


Kindred 12: The Family

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Series: Kindred Series [12]
Category: Hanson
Genre: Brothers, Clones, Conspiracy, Gen, Genetics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 06:40:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10871217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: Tempers fly at the Hanson family reunion as Taylor struggles to comprehend the past few days. Mark has some big decisions to make. A minor slip by Natalie and Emma suddenly has the tabloids involved. A few Hansons are still keeping secrets.





	1. Chapter 1

Strobe lights flashed and the music was pumping as he first walked into the LA club. Early patrons were already taking to the dancefloor ready to dance away the worries of the workday. He and his friends made their way direct to the bar to order drinks, already having trouble finding a free spot. While waiting for their drinks a couple of them broke away to go and secure an open booth, the rest joining them soon after with their orders. What followed was a good half hour of trying to get as drunk as they possibly could.  
By the time the group took to the dancefloor they were well and truly buzzed. They laughed at each other’s dance moves and were having a great time until ten minutes in someone spilled an open drink down his side.  
“Hey!” he scowled, turning to face the perpetrator, “watch it!”  
The young man continued to dance and ignore him.  
“Hey!” he took hold of his shoulder, nearly twice the size of him and wanting to make an example, “why don’t you-“  
He froze when the man turned around. They locked eyes for a moment before he threw his arm off.  
“What’s your problem?!” he hit back.  
Shaking himself off, he indicated his side.  
“You threw your drink!”  
“Fuck you, no I didn’t!”  
“What are you even doing here?!”  
He only garnered a confused look.  
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in town?!” he tried again, trying to be heard over the music.  
“Hey mate I don’t know you!” he insisted, backing away slightly, “so you and your problems need to get away from me. Enjoy your night!”  
In moments he’d disappeared into the crowd again.  
“What was that?” one of his female friends came to check on him a second later.  
“I don’t know,” he frowned before handing her his glass, “I’ll be right back. I need to make a call.”

Isaac was just putting the boys to bed when he heard his cell phone going off. Knowing Nikki was at the other end of the house he excused himself from the boys’ room and rushed out for it. He got there just in time to be too late but frowned in confusion when he saw who it had been.  
He quickly called back.  
“Ike?!” he could hear thumping music in the background.  
“Mac! Where are you?” he frowned.  
“Still in LA! Look, I just ran into Tay and he’s acting really weird-“  
“Tay?” Isaac frowned, “Tay’s at home.”  
“He’s not, he’s here! And he’s being an asshole!”  
Isaac’s mind raced. He knew Taylor was at home because he’d heard from him when Zac had gotten there. He knew Zac had collected Carey. As far as he knew, Mark was still under watch at the labs. He couldn’t think of a clone that would be in LA.  
“You must be mistaken,” he insisted, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”  
“Ike-!”

Mackenzie cursed when Isaac hung up on him. If he hadn’t already tried calling both Taylor and Zac he would have tried again. He was about to call his eldest sister when he heard a voice somewhere behind him. While he wasn’t too worried about being in the alley alone purely due to his size, it had already been a weird night. He moved closer to listen in.  
“No Sir, I didn’t think it was irrelevant,” he recognised the voice right away, “as far as I was aware the C series had been removed from Los Angeles. That’s the whole reason I came here, wasn’t it?”  
Mackenzie frowned. He began trying to count how many drinks he’d had already tonight.  
“Being identified was not part of the plan! What are my orders?!”  
He blanched at that.  
“Roger that.”  
He hung up and sighed to himself. Mackenzie could see his silhouette on the other side of a divide. The moment he went to take a step back the man’s head snapped around.  
“Who’s there?” he demanded, not waiting to come and see.  
Mackenzie raised a hand when he knew he’d been caught.  
“I don’t want any trouble,” he insisted, the lack of light in the alley making it harder to see the man’s features.  
Maybe he had been imagining things after all.  
“Yet you seem to be looking for it. Why you following me?”  
Mackenzie frowned, just now realising he had an accent. He also seemed… younger.  
He was definitely seeing things.  
“I wasn’t,” he defended, “I just came outside to call my brother. I thought you were him, sorry.”  
“And why would you think that?”  
“Because you’re the spitting image of him! But you’re obviously not American so… I’m just gonna…” he started to back away.  
The other man stepped forward, into more light. Mackenzie froze on the spot. Everything but his instincts were telling him that this was Taylor, and he had to keep reminding himself that he’d been drinking.  
“What’s your name?” the imposter demanded.  
“You first,” Mackenzie was slightly breathless.  
“I’ll give you mine if you give me yours,” he smirked.  
“Mac,” he instantly wondered if it was such a good idea, “Mac Hanson.”  
A knowing look crossed the stranger’s face.  
“You’re a Hanson,” he realised.  
“You know who I am?” Mackenzie frowned.  
“I know of you,” he confirmed, stepping forward and extending a hand, “Jackson Jones. I’ve been told I look like your brother.”  
Mackenzie shook it, glad to finally put a name to the face.  
“Yeah, you sure do,” he agreed, “where are you from?”  
“I was born here,” Jackson readily answered, “but I was fostered in Australia when I was ten.”  
“Australia?” Mackenzie’s brow rose, “I thought you were British.”  
“That’s not something you should say to an Aussie,” Jackson narrowed an eye.  
“Sorry.”  
“It’s okay, I’m messing with you,” he smirked, “so you live here?”  
“Yeah, few blocks from here,” Mackenzie indicated the direction, “you?”  
“Just visiting.”  
The back door to the club suddenly opened, a couple of very drunk girls emerging. Mackenzie stepped back a little hoping they wouldn’t notice them, but when he turned around again Jackson was gone.  
He looked either way down the alley, starting to wonder all over again whether he’d just imagined the whole thing. The stench of alcohol clinging to his jeans told him otherwise.

“You can’t be here, it’s dangerous!” Zac was scowling.  
“We are well aware of that,” Walker insisted.  
“We?” Taylor picked up on, “is Mom here too?!”  
“She’s not _here_ here, but she’s safe. For now,” Walker looked him in the eye.  
“How can anyone be safe?!” Zac demanded, “if Tay had stayed in Dallas two more days he could be dead right now!”  
Walker looked between them for a moment and Taylor felt his adrenaline rising.  
“What happened?” Walker asked, his voice steady, “what happened in Dallas?”  
“A clone went psycho and started killing everybody,” Taylor’s voice was steady in kind, “did you know about him? Were you ever going to tell us about him?”  
“No,” Walker looked away.  
“No to what?” Zac demanded, “no you didn’t know, or no you weren’t going to tell us?”  
“It doesn’t matter,” Walker insisted, “what is Carey doing here?”  
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?!” Zac was getting more and more frustrated.  
“We never told you his name,” Taylor realised, his eyes narrowing, “how do you know Carey’s name, Dad?”  
“It’s also not important.”  
“No, you don’t get to tell me that!” Taylor’s voice rose again, “you need to tell us what the fuck is going on, and you need to start talking _now_!”  
Zac winced at Taylor cursing at their father, but he stood his ground aside him. Walker didn’t even seem surprised.  
He sighed to himself and leant against the table.  
“Right now your mother and I are at an impasse,” his voice lowered, “we know that we can’t keep running, especially at our age, and the time has come to decide one way or another our fates.”  
“What are you saying?” Zac asked as Taylor just rolled his eyes.  
“I’m saying I’ve come out of hiding to speak to Ivan Morris,” Walker revealed, “to negotiate on mine and your mother’s behalf.”  
“These people don’t negotiate,” Taylor scorned, “and you’d know that better than anybody. You’re playing a game you already know you’re going to lose!”  
“Not necessarily,” Walker reasoned, “we still have something they want.”  
“They already have everything they want!” Zac argued, “they got Tay, they got Ike, and they’re coming back for Ezra and Penny because they made Tay sign a contract!”  
“They want nothing from you but your lives,” Taylor added, “they got everything else while you hid.”  
“And we’re sorry for that,” Walker insisted.  
“You’re sorry?” Taylor’s brow rose and he broke into an incredulous laugh.  
“We are,” he confirmed, “but this is the next step.”  
“I don’t care about your problems, I really don’t,” Taylor shook his head, “I care about you because you’re my father, but as far as I’m concerned this thing you’ve got going on…”  
He waved his hand.  
“…Does not concern us. You did your damage and you need to leave us alone to deal with it.”  
There was an awkward moment of silence as Taylor stared his father down.  
“If that’s how you feel,” Walker shrugged his defeat, “I’ll contact Dallas at first opportunity and be on my way.”  
“Tay,” Zac grabbed his shirt to pull him aside, Taylor throwing him off.  
Walker stood to wait as Zac lowered his voice.  
“I know I’m not really the eye in the sky on this one, I’m barely involved as it is,” he began warily, still very angry himself, “and I know you’re upset, but we’re not going to send Dad to his death.”  
“So what, he stays here?” Taylor’s eyes narrowed again, “putting us all in danger? I am not prepared to explain to the kids why snipers started shooting our windows out or why their grandfather is laying dead on the floor when they get up in the morning!”  
“So don’t,” Zac was sure he looked as awkward as he felt, “he can come home with me. Just for tonight.”  
“We don’t know that we aren’t being watched right now,” Taylor said between his teeth, “they could already have surveillance on me and they might already know he’s here.”  
“I don’t hear any doors being broken down,” Zac pointed out, “I think they’re a little preoccupied for today, don’t you?”  
“I’ve taken the chance before and been wrong,” Taylor hit back, “are you prepared for those consequences?”  
Zac looked back at his father who was at least pretending to not overhear.  
“Right now I’m not prepared for anything,” he admitted, “we all need sleep. It’s been a bad enough day as it is.”  
Taylor couldn’t argue that.  
“I say we sleep it off and regroup in the morning. Give Carey a chance to settle in, and Ike a chance to find out what’s going on. We’ll pick this up later.”  
“I won’t change my mind,” Taylor warned.  
“I don’t care if you do or don’t,” Zac was blunt, “Dad? You’re coming with me tonight.”  
Walker gave him a nod, conceding defeat. Zac left the study to head back to the dining area where he knew everyone was waiting in tense silence. Walker went to follow him, stopping to put a hand on Taylor’s shoulder.  
“It was hard for us too,” he insisted, keeping his voice low so that no one outside could hear, “we missed you, and we missed the kids.”  
“And it’s all on you,” Taylor wasn’t backing down, “you could have changed it from day one, but you didn’t.”  
“And we’ll have to live with that,” Walker assured, giving his shoulder a pat before following Zac.  
Taylor grit his teeth, holding himself back from following after. He needed to stop and take a breath.  
“Dad’s coming home with me tonight,” Zac announced to the table where Emma, Natalie and Carey sat around, “we’ll regroup in the morning and decide what to do then. I want to get Ike involved while we figure this out.”  
“Sounds like a plan,” Natalie agreed, “how’s Tay?”  
“Not good,” he replied as Walker appeared, “good night guys.”  
“Good night,” both Carey and Emma gave him a nod before he could head for the door.  
Carey and Walker shared an awkward stare before the older man followed suit.


	2. Chapter 2

Mark was well and truly restless by the time Morris made an appearance at the hospital. He’d been transferred into a private ward earlier in the day, and forced to wait aside a handler for the doctor to arrive. He couldn’t get the handler to talk so the majority of the day had been spent watching television while trying not to roll onto his bandaged arm.  
Any time he closed his eyes for too long, all he could see was the four of them stuck in that office. So the television being the only distraction, he made the most of it.  
“Mr Miller,” Morris offered a smile as he entered the room, “I hear your wounds aren’t as extensive as first feared. You should be ready to come with us anytime now.”  
“They want to redress the blisters in an hour,” he turned the volume down, “then they said I could be discharged.”  
He looked up at Morris.  
“Where exactly am I being discharged to?” he asked outright, “you can’t send us back where we were.”  
“That’s true,” Morris agreed, “we’ve spent the better part of the day finding suitable alternative accommodations.”  
“Let me guess. Jail,” Mark smirked.  
“Assuredly not,” Morris wasn’t amused, “jails are a cesspool of media attention these days. But we’ve managed to outsource to other research facilities in the state and you’ll be transferred to one of those momentarily.”  
“What about Alex and Keandre?” Mark raised a brow.  
“They’re already there,” Morris assured.

Alex was pacing. Keandre sat off to the side watching him. They’d been locked inside an empty office all afternoon and evening without any contact from outside, and they were starving, tired and thirsty. Keandre’s eyes followed his movement but he said nothing. He’d been given a replacement shirt, but he still had Evan’s blood trailing up the side of his throat.  
“They have to at least feed us soon, right?” Alex said after a few hours, before they heard something from the corridor.  
Alex went straight to the window in the door. He saw shadows coming toward them.  
“Excuse me!” he called out, hoping they could hear him, “can we please get some water?!”  
When he realised they were coming to the door he quickly backed away. Keandre didn’t move as the door finally opened.  
“Mark?” Alex was surprised to see him.  
“Miss me?” he smirked, eyes going around the office.  
He shared a look with Keandre before focusing on the two handlers with him again.  
“We got food,” he informed them, holding his left arm somewhat gingerly, “barely edible but food nonetheless.”  
The handlers set three trays down on the main desk in the room along with a few bottles of water.  
“Okay,” Alex hugged himself, unsure if he should thank them or not.  
“We don’t even get three chairs?” Mark pulled a face when he realised where they were.  
“We’ll look into it,” one of the handlers promised.  
“And how are we supposed to sleep in here? On the damn floor?!”  
“We’ll look into it,” the same handler scoffed, retreating though the door and locking it behind them.  
“Assholes,” Mark muttered, moving over to sit himself up on the desk beside the trays.  
“What happened to you?” Alex asked nervously, but coming to get a drink all the same.  
“My arm got fucked up in the blast,” Mark admitted, “obviously. But it’ll heal.”  
He watched as Keandre leant over to grab one of the trays and started eating some fruit with his fingers, ignoring the plastic cutlery.  
“How did you get out unscathed?” Mark demanded, “you were right there and there isn’t a mark on you.”  
“I can hide,” Keandre didn’t look up.  
“He hasn’t been able to tell me exactly what happened,” Alex gulped slightly after taking a drink of water, “I don’t know if he wants to or not.”  
“He wasn’t there for the whole thing,” Mark reasoned, “I wasn’t either. By the time I got there they had it pretty well handled.”  
“They?”  
“Yeah,” Mark nodded, “Damien and ah… Damien and Jesse.”  
There was an awkward moment of silence. Enough to hear more footsteps passing in the corridor.  
“Is he really gone?” Alex forced out, dreading the answer.  
Mark shot Keandre a glance, but he was more interested in the food.  
“Yeah he is,” his eyes lowered, “he didn’t make it out.”  
“And Damien?”  
“Damien was the reason for the blast, he wanted to take out the bad guy,” Mark explained, “it was a clone. A crazy, asshole clone.”  
“His name was Evan,” Alex jumped on the distraction, trying to keep his voice steady.  
“Evan?”  
“Yeah. He was… they were keeping him in the basement. He’d been there for like five years.”  
“Why?” Mark frowned, “why would they…? Were they going to do that to us?!”  
“I don’t think so,” Alex shook his head, “they said he was trying to kill his entire series.”  
“What do you mean ‘series’?” Mark was confused.  
Alex immediately blushed when he realised he’d said too much.  
“I shouldn’t say any more,” he said softly, going back to sit on the floor against the wall.  
Mark was confused, but it had already been a long day and night.  
“You should eat,” he indicated the trays, “I had something at the hospital so…”

Taylor groggily emerged from the bedroom the following morning and went to start the coffee machine before realising he could hear hushed voices coming from the living room. Already on edge from the events of the day before, he quickly went to investigate.  
He found River trying to play quietly in Carey’s wheelchair, Carey taking up the couch instead. Carey looked up the moment he saw Taylor’s shadow.  
“Morning,” he offered.  
“River, come off that,” Taylor waved him off.  
“He’s fine,” Carey insisted, “I needed a break anyway.”  
“He should be getting ready for school,” Taylor insisted, “go on.”  
River grumbled to himself, but thanked Carey anyway before running from the room. Carey wondered if he was about to be in trouble as Taylor came to stand behind the couch.  
“Couldn’t sleep,” Carey said by way of excuse as to why he was up so early.  
“Yeah me neither,” Taylor diverted his eyes.  
Awkward silence.  
“So I need to ask you something,” Taylor came out with, checking over his shoulder to make sure no one had followed him before leaning on the back of the couch.  
“Go ahead,” Carey figured he had nothing to hide.  
“Last night when my father turned up, he wanted to know why you were here.”  
“What’s odd about that?” Carey frowned.  
“Nothing on the surface,” Taylor shrugged, “except he asked for you by name.”  
“How would he know my name?” Carey looked confused.  
“That’s what I was hoping you could help us with.”  
Carey frowned at that, trying to think.  
“Unless something happened between when I met you and Isaac at the motel in Broken Arrow and now, I don’t know,” he shook his head, “that’s the last time I remember even seeing you before the lab.”  
“That’s a lot missing,” Taylor realised, not having known the extent previously.  
“It is,” Carey agreed, “I got a bit of it back, but it’s just like flashes of memory. Nothing really sticking. Like I remember meeting Ellie for the first time, and I remember the cell in Russia… but not much else.”  
“So you don’t remember being hurt?”  
“No. I’m not even sure what the last thing I remember before that was.”  
Taylor thought it over before hearing the coffee maker finish its work. He rolled his eyes and stood up again.  
“Just another secret my parents are keeping from us I guess,” he muttered, going to make it.  
Carey watched him leave and sighed to himself.

Before doing anything else, Zac was on the phone to Isaac. Luckily he’d already been awake as they hadn’t had any plans for the studio that morning either.  
“Dad’s here,” he said before Isaac could give him a reason to hang up.  
He could hear noise from the kids in the background.  
“What?” came Isaac’s response, “say that again.”  
“Dad’s here. He stayed over last night,” Zac repeated, “he showed up at Tay’s last night and we kinda had a fight.”  
“You and Tay?”  
“All of us,” Zac admitted, “but Tay didn’t want him there so I brought him here.”  
“What’s he doing in Tulsa? And why didn’t he tell us?!”  
“I don’t know. Things were heated last night so we just left it. I’m hoping we’ll find out today.”  
“You think Dad will be forthcoming? Where’s Mom?”  
“I don’t know, and… I don’t know.”  
“Great. Hey did you get a call from Mac last night?”  
“I had a few missed calls but we were kinda busy,” Zac admitted, “figured I’d call him back later today.”  
“It sounded like he ran into a clone,” Isaac had found somewhere quieter to talk by now, “but there shouldn’t be any in LA, right?”  
“Not that I know of,” Zac frowned, “I saw Mark in Dallas and Carey’s at Tay’s.”  
“You saw Mark?” Isaac frowned.  
“Yeah…” Zac winced, “there’s a lot you need to catch up on. Do you want to meet me at Tay’s later?”  
“Is Tay going to be okay with that?”  
“I’ll call him,” Zac promised, “my guess is he’ll be fine as long as I don’t bring Dad with.”  
“Dad has to be here for a reason, can we trust him to wait?” Isaac’s worry came through in his voice.  
“I don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out.”

“Hey! HEY!” Mark was pounding on the door with his good hand, “when are we getting out of here?!”  
Alex and Keandre had long fallen asleep on the floor, but they’d been awake for a while now and heard nothing from outside. Mark hadn’t slept at all.  
“HEY!” he was trying to get some attention, “how long will we be here?! Where’s Morris?!”  
“They didn’t say anything when they put us in here,” Alex admitted, “I thought they just needed somewhere to put us while they figured out what to do.”  
“We’re not fucking pets!” Mark scowled, “we shouldn’t be locked up at all. All three of us came here voluntarily!”  
He continued hitting the door, despite wondering if there were even anyone in this part of the building. It was obviously too thick to break through, and the glass was reinforced with wire. With the vents too small to get through they were definitely stuck there until someone let them out.  
After being trapped in the office at DIGER it didn’t help Mark’s confidence.

“Absolutely not,” Taylor put his foot down.  
“I didn’t say Dad would be there,” Zac defended, “I just want us to sit down and figure out what our next move is, and better at your house than the studio.”  
“Why? Because Carey’s here?” Taylor scorned, “you know he has no memory of anything, right?”  
“No, I didn’t know, because no one _tells me anything_ ,” Zac hit back, “regardless he’s a part of this whether he wants to be or not. We certainly don’t.”  
“I asked Carey how Dad knew his name. He didn’t know,” Taylor rubbed his face tiredly.  
“Are we even surprised?” Zac pointed out, “just another thing Dad isn’t telling us.”  
Taylor smirked at that.  
“Tell me about it,” he muttered.  
“So…?”  
“Fine,” Taylor relented.  
“You know we’re all pissed off, we’re all upset,” Zac emphasised, “but we’re all in this together, right?”  
“Sure, whatever.”  
Zac rolled his eyes.  
“We’ll see you at one.”  
He hung up and bit into his fist for a moment before going to find Kate to tell her. As far as he knew Walker was still in bed, and when he thought to check on him he was relieved to see that he was.  
He hated that he couldn’t trust him, but it wasn’t going to change anything.


	3. Chapter 3

“Is this a family thing, or a clone thing?” Carey looked uneasy at being in the room once Isaac had arrived, “like is it Hansons only or…?”  
“Well you’re practically family, if estranged,” Zac shrugged as he took a seat.  
Carey looked to Taylor just in case he disagreed. He said nothing and avoided eye contact. Carey debated leaving anyway, but was distracted when Isaac returned from setting up Willa and Odette’s playdate.  
“Did you tell Tay about the Mac thing?” he asked Zac before taking a seat opposite him.  
“What Mac thing?” Taylor jumped on, proving he was - in fact - awake.  
“He thought he saw you in a club in LA last night,” Isaac moved his chair in, “we got a bunch of missed calls from him.”  
“But he was drunk so…” Zac obviously didn’t believe the hype.  
“There’s no one in LA,” Carey frowned, “Mark and I were the only ones and he’d still be in Dallas somewhere.”  
He jumped when Emma put a hand on his shoulder, not expecting her to sneak up behind him.  
“I’m going to take Ellie down to the park with the girls for a little bit,” the tone of her voice implied she didn’t want to be around for another shouting match, “if you hear from Rachel can you call me?”  
“You still haven’t heard from her?” Carey frowned.  
“No, I even tried at the house. Hopefully she’s just having trouble with her phone and hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”  
“Good luck,” he insisted as she planted a kiss on his cheek.  
“You too,” she eyed the brothers around the table before leaving the room.  
Once she was gone and they heard the front door closing behind her and Natalie, Zac set his cell phone on the table with a louder thud than it called for.  
“Dad’s waiting for a call,” he announced, “so let’s get this over with.”  
“What are we even discussing?” Taylor went on the attack early, “do you really think any one of us is going to go to Dad and be able to say ‘here, this is what we decided you should do’ and have him actually listen? He hasn’t listened to us in two years why would he start now?!”  
“We need to come up with ideas,” Zac corrected, “that we can pass on. That’s all. No one’s going to tell Dad what he can and cannot do. Of course that’s not going to work.”  
“So we’re playing make believe,” Taylor’s brow rose, “great. It’s not as if anyone’s life is at stake or anything.”  
“What do you want out of this?” Isaac demanded, “do you want Dad to front up to Morris? Do you want him to go back into hiding? What do you want out of this?”  
Taylor hesitated, not expecting to be asked.  
“I don’t know,” he admitted.  
“Are those the only two options?” Carey’s eyes were darting between them curiously, “death or exile?”  
“As far as we know,” Taylor looked annoyed.  
“Has Morris ever said anything to you about him? About what they’d do if they found him?”  
Taylor stopped to think. The only memory that came to him was being drugged and interrogated in Nevada.  
“They didn’t say anything about Dad,” he frowned, “but they said they wanted Mom’s womb.”  
“Her womb,” Isaac repeated, unsure if he’d heard right.  
“Is that what Dad meant when he said they still had something they wanted?” Zac looked worried.  
“Who knows what Dad meant?” Taylor scoffed, “it’s hard to play our cards when we don’t even know what they all are.”  
“Why do they want her womb?” Carey asked carefully, “wouldn’t it be too late?”  
“That’s what I thought,” Taylor shrugged, “but maybe it doesn’t matter to them.”  
“Does she need to be alive?” Carey asked.  
An awkward silence made him immediately regret asking.

Mark was pacing by the time someone came to their door again. Aside from a breakfast run they hadn’t had any outside contact yet.  
The moment the door unlocked Mark pulled it sharply open, causing the handler to lose his balance.  
“Mark?!” Alex quickly got to his feet, Keandre beating him.  
“It’s answer time,” Mark scowled as the first handler collected the trays he’d dropped while the second revealed a tranquiliser gun.  
Mark wasn’t intimidated.  
“Stay back!” the handler with the gun warned.  
Still with a grip on the door, Mark waited until the first man was fully into the room before slamming it in the second handler’s face.  
“HEY!”  
“Get him!” Mark ordered Keandre, grabbing the only chair without wheels.  
The handler’s eyes widened and he dropped the trays again, aiming for the door. Keandre had him in a headlock in an instant while Mark wedged the chair against the door handle. There was no way he could be shot without them getting the door open.  
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he announced as Keandre easily held their captive, “you’re going to go and get Morris, and this guy stays in here with us until he gets here.”  
“Just let him go,” the handler removed his mask and looked more tired than concerned, “we’re just doing our jobs.”  
“And I’m just doing mine,” Mark insisted, “and now you have a new job, titled ‘go fetch Morris’. So get to it.”  
“I can’t leave him here alone with you.”  
The handler was grunting as Keandre’s grip tightened. When he stopped struggling Keandre loosened his grip. It didn’t take him long to figure out.  
“Then you’d better hurry,” Mark smirked before turning to help.  
He locked eyes with their prisoner before looking to Alex.  
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Alex shook his head right away.  
“Shut up and help me find something to restrain him with,” Mark scorned, starting to look through the main desk.  
“No need,” Keandre gave him a shove into the back corner.  
Mark paused as he removed his mask, expecting a fight.  
“Stay!” Keandre ordered, staring the slightly shorter man down.  
His faced paled but he nodded. Mark watched him suspiciously for a moment, but when Keandre took a seat on the table to watch him like a guard dog he pulled a face.  
“Alrighty then. Alex, eat something. We don’t know how much time we have.”

“What do you want?” Zac looked to Isaac, the brothers all tired already.  
“What do I want?” he rubbed his chin.  
“That’s what I asked.”  
Taylor twiddled his thumbs, waiting for the answer. Carey had barely spoken a word at all.  
“I want Dad,” Isaac shrugged, “I want him safe. Both he and Mom. If that means that we don’t get to see them much – if at all – then I’d rather that than knowing I had something to do with their deaths.”  
“Do we know that they actually want to kill them? Or are we just assuming?” Carey looked between them, “maybe they just want to lock them up like they did to Jesse?”  
“They needed Jesse for research,” Taylor pointed out, “they don’t need our parents. They used to work with them so they’d already have everything they need.”  
“Except the womb,” Isaac’s brow rose.  
He sighed as Zac just stared down at his phone.  
“As far as I’m concerned,” Isaac went on, “if we never see either of them again because of this, then so be it. I’d rather them go into hiding. This won’t be a quick fix like ours was.”  
“A quick fix?” Taylor jumped on, “you think our situation was a quick fix?”  
“Well-“  
“What part of what is happening to us has been a ‘quick fix’?!” he demanded.  
“I just meant our correspondence with the labs, that’s all!” Isaac’s voice rose with his, “we’re still alive, we’re still living our own lives.”  
Taylor scoffed and rolled his eyes.  
“There’s a lot worse ways it could have gone for us,” Isaac insisted, “but we made it out.”  
“ _You_ made it out,” Taylor’s eyes narrowed, “you’re not the one with a tracking chip in your neck.”  
“A what?” Zac’s brow rose.  
“A tracking chip,” Taylor replied before Isaac could, “like the one they put in my arm when I first went in, only it’s in the back of my neck now where I can’t get it out without professional help.”  
“So… you didn’t?” Zac tried to understand.  
“What’s the fucking point?! They’ll only replace it!”  
“Do I have one?” Carey looked worried, resisting the urge to feel for a scar himself.  
“Yes,” Taylor didn’t hesitate, “we all do.”  
“Does Isaac?”  
“Have we actually decided anything?” Isaac quickly diverted, “are we telling Dad to go back into hiding? Because we might want to get on that right now.”  
Zac grabbed his phone as it started vibrating. Seeing Kate’s name on the caller ID he quickly stood and stepped aside.  
“That’s got my vote,” he pointed to Isaac before answering.  
“I’m not going to argue,” Taylor shrugged, “despite the fact that it’s useless to begin with. I’m not going to be the one to put my hand up and say Dad should do something stupid.”  
“He’s what?!”  
All eyes went to Zac.  
“When?” he wasn’t paying attention in return.  
“What happened?” Isaac asked, not moving from the table.  
“Dad took off,” Zac threw over his shoulder.  
“What did I say?” Taylor looked smug.

“What’s your name?” Mark demanded.  
Their captive was the only form of entertainment they’d had since being locked in. Keandre’s eyes had barely left him and he’d appeared too scared to move. Considering Keandre was still covered in blood, it wasn’t entirely unfounded.  
“Why?” the man asked.  
“Why not?” Mark shrugged, “seems like we’re going to have a lot of time together in the immediate future.”  
Before he could reply, there was a noise in the hall. Figuring that either Morris was coming or they’d planned some kind of assault on the door, Mark quickly made his way to the window.  
The sight of the burly man in full assault uniform instantly made him step back.  
“Psst!” he got Keandre and Alex’s attention, “ _hide_!”  
At Keandre’s confused look, Mark could feel his adrenaline spiking.  
“Russia!” was all he could think of to say.  
The handler’s eyes widened as Keandre instantly grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down behind the desk.  
“Are you serious?” Alex’s legs had frozen on the spot.  
“Do I look like I’m fucking joking?!” Mark demanded, before realising his predicament.  
He darted forward and grabbed Alex by the arm, dragging him to his feet and slamming him back against the wall beside the door. He hoped that if anyone looked through the window they’d be too far back to see.  
He slowed his breathing as he let go of Alex’s arm, in an effort to hear their trademark boots getting closer. They seemed to be trying every door.  
“How did they find us?” Alex whispered, fretting, causing Mark to hit him on the arm.  
They held their breath as the boots stopped at their door and they heard the door handle move. Mark heard some mutters between what he thought were two or three men before a shadow blocked the window for the moment. He felt Alex shivering beside him for what felt like an age before the shadow moved on. Mark quickly put a hand across Alex’s chest in case he’d move right away, waiting until he could hear the boots moving further away.  
“Stay quiet,” he said softly, “make sure they’re fucking gone.”  
Alex was about to reply when they heard a loud bang from down the corridor followed by some short high-pitched yells. Alex did try to move then and Mark grabbed him by the shirt.  
“That’s Joey!” Alex tried hard to keep his voice down as he grabbed at Mark’s hand.  
“We can’t help him,” Mark insisted, not even sure who he was talking about.  
They heard a struggle before sudden silence. Mark grit his teeth as the boots entered the corridor again, followed by the sound of something dragging along the ground. Alex had trouble containing himself beside him, and Mark made a mental note to ask who Joey was later.


	4. Chapter 4

Both Mark and Alex nearly jumped out of their skins when there was a sharp knock on the door a short time later. They hadn’t had any warning.  
“Marcus?” he groaned in relief when he heard the doctor’s voice, “I take it you’re the one in charge here?”  
“What just happened?” he demanded, stepping out from his hiding spot, “and where were you?!”  
“Open the door and we’ll talk about it,” Morris offered a smile.  
“How about we talk now?” Mark rebutted, “how did the Russians know where to find us?!”  
Keandre looked up from behind the desk, indicating for the handler to stay down. He saw the doctor’s face at the window and he already looked impatient.  
“And what did they take instead?” Mark demanded.  
“Was it Joey?” Alex folded his arms nervously, “did they take Joey?”  
“Who’s Joey?” Mark frowned.  
“Alexander?” Morris couldn’t quite see him from where he was, “have you tried talking some sense into your brother here?”  
“Brother?” Mark scowled, the term also making Alex uncomfortable but not as much as Mark’s reaction to it did.  
“I can’t,” Alex responded before he could overthink it.  
“Keandre? Parlez-en à Marcus s'il vous plaît.”  
“Don’t talk to them talk to me!” Mark scowled, “how hard is it to give us some answers?!”  
“Je ne le possède pas,” Keandre muttered.  
Mark wasn’t sure what he’d said, but the tone wasn’t in the doctor’s favor.  
“Look, you said you were about to let me go, and I get why you haven’t yet,” Mark at least attempted reason, “but at least tell me if looking over my shoulder for Russians is a thing I’ll have to do. Is Carey safe out there? Are any of us safe?!”  
“If my word should ever help, I believe you are,” Morris replied.  
Mark had to hesitate at that. He had a point. There was no reason to actually believe his word despite it being somewhat reassuring.  
“I’ll make you a deal Mr Miller,” Morris looked to the side as if to tell someone to back down, “I have the authorisation to free you right now. If you open the door for us I will have you on your way within the hour. You have my word.”  
“On my way where?” Mark frowned, “and what about these two?”  
“Wherever you’d like,” Morris offered.  
He sighed to himself before answering the second part.  
“Upon review of the security footage at the institute, Keandre has been assessed as a danger. We can’t let him leave until what I’m sure is a misunderstanding has been cleared up. Alexander on the other hand, we’d like to offer counsel. We believe he could be a valuable asset in assisting us where Damien left off.”  
Alex bit his lip when he realised the doctor’s voice had broken when he said Damien's name aloud. Mark hadn’t noticed, but for Alex it was almost a reminder that Morris was human. He leant back against the wall and lowered his head.  
“You’re okay with that?” Mark saw the movement.  
Alex nodded. He wasn’t entirely sure but he didn’t want to escalate the situation.  
Mark checked over his shoulder to where Keandre’s head and shoulders were still all he could see. He kind of felt like he was about to throw him under the bus, but at the same time… he really wanted to see Carey, and Keandre _had_ come in of his own accord originally.  
Not sure he was doing the right thing but knowing that it had to end eventually, Mark pulled the chair away from the door. As the door opened he stood back against the side wall with his hands raised in surrender. Seeing that the standoff was coming to an end, Keandre let the handler go and he quickly got to his feet. Morris waved the anxious man out of the room as he and a guard entered, the guard immediately going to Mark and patting him down for weapons.  
“Are you okay?” Morris went to Alex’s side.  
More confused at being asked than concerned with an honest response, Alex nodded again.  
“Great,” Morris smiled, “then let’s get this mess cleaned up, shall we?”  
“Sir?” a man in a suit appeared at the door.  
“I’m in the middle of something,” Morris said between his teeth.  
Mark looked the newcomer up and down, finding his dress extremely out of place. He quickly figured it probably had more to do with their current location than where they’d come from.  
“It’s urgent,” the man insisted, “you have a call. You won’t believe who it is.”

Walker was leaning against the car as he looked out across the Arkansas river. He felt like he’d been on hold forever.  
“This is Morris,” the voice finally came.  
“Ivan,” he returned, “it’s been a long time since I’ve heard your voice. I almost didn’t recognise it.”  
There was a pause on the other end.  
“It certainly has been a long time,” Morris agreed, “what do I call you now? Walker Hanson?”  
“Walker’s fine,” he insisted, “we have a negotiation to get underway.”  
“You’ve managed to call at a very odd time. Might we schedule a meeting? In person?”  
“You know that’s not going to happen,” Walker assured, “we do this now or not at all.”  
“Very well,” Morris sighed, sounding like he was on the move, “what do you have to bring to the table?”  
“First I’d like to hear your plans for my sons,” Walker insisted, “I’ll decide if they need to be included in these talks.”  
“The situation with your sons is well in hand,” Morris assured, “your eldest was with us for time enough to complete the research we needed, and as for Taylor… well. We have secured a running contract with him to enable him to continue leading a productive life while ensuring we get the data we require.”  
“How so?” Walker kept one eye over his shoulder.  
“When we require additional data he comes to us. We make the process as painless as possible and he’s soon on his way. You can ask him yourself.”  
“I’ll do that,” Walker assured, “now here’s the deal. I know what you need. I’m quite happy to give it to you for nothing in return, as long as you guarantee my wife’s freedom.”  
“I’m not sure you understand-“  
“I understand perfectly,” Walker insisted, “we will give you all the bio data you need as long as we walk out of there inside of a month. Just to make sure, I’ve brought along a little insurance policy. Something called Khyber Pass. Ever heard of it?”  
“I can’t say that I have,” Morris admitted.  
“Ask around. Do we have a deal?”  
There was a pause as Morris thought it over. He couldn’t hear him conferring with anyone, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t. After a good minute or so of silence Morris sighed dramatically.  
“You have a deal,” he assured, “where are you?”  
“You’ve kept me on the line long enough,” Walker checked his watch to be sure, “you know where I am. Come and get me.”  
He ended the call and threw the phone into the river. After making sure it sank he turned back to the car and pulled out a set of binoculars. He aimed them across the river, settling on a beaten truck with South Carolina plates.  
Satisfied, he put the binoculars back and leant against the car again to wait.

Mark’s eyes shot to the doorway as Morris came through. He’d been separated from Alex and Keandre and placed in yet another office down the hall. This time his hands had been cuffed behind him.  
“Mr Miller is free to go,” Morris gave the guard with him a nod, “once he tells us where he’d like to go.”  
“Shit,” Mark cussed under his breath.  
He knew he wanted to see Carey, which implied going to Tulsa, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the spectacle of the lab dropping him off.  
“Marcus?” Morris noticed his hesitation.  
“Just take me to the nearest highway, I’ll hitchhike,” he suggested.  
“I’d rather we didn’t,” Morris shot the guard a glance.  
“Why not?” Mark frowned.  
“I’d rather you have secure transportation. We don’t wish to find you laying in a gutter somewhere, so to speak.”  
“Why do you care?” Mark’s frown only deepened, “you’ve never cared before.”  
“Because, if you must know,” Morris looked reluctant, “we’re running out of assets.”  
Mark had to pause at that. It certainly made sense.  
“Tulsa,” he finally admitted.  
“We’ll have you on a flight this afternoon,” Morris assured, turning to leave the room.  
“Hey!” Mark called after him, “keep me away from the mob and I’ll stay as safe as you want!”

“Any luck?” Isaac looked up as Zac returned to the room.  
“No,” he admitted, “I might head home. Kate’s pretty upset, thinks it’s her fault.”  
Isaac nodded.  
“Call us if anything comes up,” he insisted.  
“Of course,” Zac shrugged.  
He said a quick goodbye to Carey and headed for the door. With Taylor having personally gone to retrieve the girls from the park, it left Isaac and Carey in an awkward silence at opposite ends of the dining table.  
“How are you healing up?” Isaac broke it first.  
Carey shrugged awkwardly.  
“It still hurts when I laugh,” he rubbed the left side of his chest, “but it could have been a lot worse.”  
“So I hear,” Isaac indicated his movement, “what happened there? I only know about the legs and the hand. If you don’t mind my asking that is.”  
“No,” Carey frowned, “they broke some ribs and one of them punctured my lung. I had to have a few surgeries to right it again and it’s still just a bit tender.”  
“You’re incredibly lucky it wasn’t your heart,” Isaac’s brow rose.  
“Oh my heart’s on the other side.”  
“What?” Isaac wasn’t sure he’d heard right.  
“I’m a mirror twin,” Carey mused, indicating the right side of his chest instead, “so my heart’s over here. If it had been on the left I’d definitely be dead.”  
“Weird,” Isaac was otherwise speechless.  
“I’ve been one my whole life,” Carey shrugged, “so not to me.”  
“No I mean… I didn’t think the labs could do that,” Isaac corrected, “if they were making clones you’d think the embryos would all be separate. On their own. A mirror twin is something I would have thought would be impossible to replicate.”  
Carey shrugged again.  
“I always assumed they’d either messed up or done it on purpose,” he admitted, “Mark and I aren’t exactly the same to begin with.”  
They were distracted by the front door opening and the sounds of Willa and Odette excitedly running inside. Thinking they might have needed help with the stroller Isaac excused himself from the table and went to see.

Mark grimaced as the hood was pulled away and the guard began to remove his cuffs. Thanks to his personal effects being unattainable while the lab was still on lockdown, they handed him a new wallet complete with a new ID, some cash and a disposable credit card. Once they let him out of the van he used it to book the next available flight to Tulsa and once he was through security to go and buy some food. He was tempted to replace his cell phone while there, but he couldn’t remember Emma’s new number and figured once he caught up with them they could loan him more money anyway.  
He kept an eye over his shoulder as he boarded the flight to be sure there were no familiar faces. With the lab far behind him for the moment, his biggest worry was Russo finding out he’d been freed.


	5. Chapter 5

“What’s Ellie short for?” Isaac was smiling as Odette watched her in Emma’s arms.  
“Eleanor,” Emma replied, “like Eleanor Roosevelt.”  
“Have you met Taylor’s dog?” his brow rose.  
“Of course I have,” she scorned playfully, “Roosevelt’s my favorite Hanson.”  
“I thought I was your favorite Hanson?” Carey teased.  
“Even if you _were_ a Hanson… no.”  
“Ouch.”  
“Ike are you sure you won’t stay for dinner?” Natalie appeared behind them.  
“No I’d better get going,” Isaac sighed before pulling himself up, “I was just kinda hoping we’d hear from Dad is all.”  
“I’m sure they’ll let you know if they do,” Emma offered a smile back.  
“I know,” he agreed, “I just… yeah.”  
“Sounds like you need some sleep,” Emma suggested.  
“Maybe,” he mused before they heard a knock at the door.  
“I’ll get it!” Penny called from the foyer, practically already there.  
“Expecting anyone?” Isaac frowned toward Natalie.  
“No,” she shook her head.  
“Then maybe it’s-“  
Isaac cut off when they heard Penny scream.

Alex followed Morris into what looked like some kind of locker room. The building they were in was certainly a bit of a culture shock to him after spending so long in the labs, but he was trying not to show it. Morris and a handler led him to a particular locker which Morris opened and began to empty onto the opposite bench.  
“These are clothes you can change into once you shower,” he offered, “I’ll have my friend here wait for you, but he won’t intrude. The showers are to the right.”  
Alex looked toward them wondering why he was being given the chance when Keandre wasn’t yet. He certainly needed it more. The last time he’d see the Frenchman he’d been locked back into the same office they’d spent the night before in.  
“Are you alright?” Morris pulled his attention back.  
“Yeah,” he wasn’t expecting to be asked, “it’s just…”  
“What?” Morris leant against the lockers patiently.  
Alex debated actually asking for a moment before deciding to bite the bullet.  
“Was it Joey?” he avoided eye contact, “did the Russians take Joey earlier today?”  
“Yes,” Morris didn’t sugar coat it, “they took Joey and his brother. The two remaining G series clones in our care.”  
“Do you think Evan’s escape was orchestrated so that they could?” Alex felt his face flush red.  
“We’ll be looking into it,” Morris assured, “right now however, we’ll be relocating the clone projects back to Nevada.”  
“Nevada?” Alex shivered, remembering the wire cell.  
“You are welcome to join us, of course,” Morris offered, “Keandre won’t have the luxury of choice.”  
“What will I have to do?” Alex folded his arms.  
“Nothing until we’re all settled in,” Morris considered, “so if you have a preferable form of entertainment we’d be happy to provide it in the meantime. A television maybe, or some form of gaming apparatus…”  
Alex looked up at that. He couldn’t believe how long it had been since he’d been able to immerse himself in a game. The moment it had become an option he felt his fingers tingling with anticipation.  
“Think it over while you clean yourself up,” Morris offered, “I’ll be waiting.”  
“Thanks,” Alex bit his lip as Morris turned to leave.  
He waited as the handler followed and took up his post by the door before starting to strip down. He left his pants on until he found the showers and set one going before removing his glasses.

Taylor was the first one to the door and he quickly grabbed Penny and pulled her into his arms.  
“I swear to God I didn’t touch her,” Mark had his hands up defensively.  
Taylor stared him down for a moment before focusing on his daughter.  
“Are you okay?” he made sure.  
She nodded, indeed looking okay. He quickly worked out that it must have just been a shock.  
“Go back inside,” he insisted as both Natalie and Isaac appeared behind him.  
Natalie took her back into the house once she saw who - or what - was at the door.  
“Is my brother here?” Mark forced himself to relax a little.  
“He is,” Taylor was looking him up and down.  
He was still wearing clothes from the labs.  
“Did you escape or were you let go?” Isaac frowned when he saw too.  
“I was let go,” Mark scorned, “they were nearly done with me and now they got other shit to focus on.”  
“We need to get him inside,” Isaac cautioned under his breath, giving Taylor a wary look.  
Taylor didn’t respond.  
“Look I’m just here to see my brother,” Mark insisted, “I didn’t see him much when I was in lockup and we got stuff to talk out so…”  
“I’ll get him for you,” Taylor gave a sarcastic nod before turning away.  
Isaac looked between them a moment before hurriedly following. Mark rolled his eyes as the door closed in front of him.  
“Tay you can’t leave him out there,” Isaac insisted when he caught up with him, “and you definitely can’t have Carey out there having some kind of clone conference. What if someone drives up?!”  
“I’m not having him in my house,” Taylor stopped to put his foot down, “and the very _idea_ that I would invite someone into my home who literally tried to kill me not so long ago is absurd. I’m not having him around my kids.”  
Isaac paused, suddenly getting it.  
“So it’s out there or not at all,” Taylor insisted.  
“What about out the back?” Isaac suggested, “we can’t exactly ship Carey off every time this happens.”  
“Then maybe he should have stayed somewhere else,” Taylor muttered, heading for the dining area again.  
Carey looked up from where he still sat at the end of the table.  
“Your brother’s here,” Taylor announced.  
“That was Mark?” Natalie looked surprised from the kitchen.  
“It was,” Isaac confirmed, appearing behind him.  
“What’s he doing here?” Carey was confused, “I thought…”  
“I’ll go see him,” Emma gave him a pat on the shoulder with her free hand.  
“Here,” Natalie offered, quickly taking Ellie from her.  
“Thanks.”  
She gently handed her over before heading for the door. Mark looked up from where he’d been pacing when the door opened again.  
“Why are you here?” she demanded, quickly closing the door behind herself.  
“To see Care, why else?” he frowned.  
His eyes went to the closed door.  
“Does he not want to see me?” he guessed.  
“Of course he does, I just wanted to know why,” Emma folded her arms, “and what trouble you’re bringing with you this time.”  
“What do you mean?” Mark’s frown only deepened.  
“You know exactly what I mean!” she hissed through her teeth, “were you followed? Does the mob know you’re here?”  
“I only just got here!” his voice rose, “how the fuck am I supposed to know?!”  
“Maybe because they always know!” Emma hit back.  
“And how is that my fault?!”  
“Because you invited them in! Because you decided to work with them!”  
“You don’t think I know that was a mistake?!”  
“Too little too late, Mark!”  
Mark scoffed and rolled his eyes as the front door opened again. Isaac cautiously stepped through, visibly wondering what he was getting into.  
“You might want to keep it down out here,” he suggested, “or alternatively, take it around back. We can’t get the wheelchair up here but he can go out onto the back patio.”  
“How do I get there?” Mark otherwise ignored Emma.

“Mark!” Carey exclaimed the moment he saw him.  
“Care, you okay?” he replied, stepping up to the patio as he came from the side of the house.  
“I’m fine,” he held his arms out for a hug.  
Mark looked him over instead, as if not trusting his judgement. The first thing he noticed was his uncovered hand.  
“Care I’m sorry,” he shook his head.  
“Hug me you asshole!” Carey scorned, “don’t leave me hanging!”  
Mark was still hesitant, but he finally leant over the wheelchair to give his brother a hug. Carey grabbed him tight – it was the first contact he’d had with him since waking up. It felt like a lifetime ago.  
“I’m so sorry,” Mark said into his shoulder, “it should have been me.”  
“What?” Carey frowned, not letting go.  
“You in that chair, Jesse in the labs… it should have been me,” Mark pulled back and rubbed at his right eye, “people keep getting hurt around me and it needs to stop already.”  
“It’s not as if you’re not getting hurt,” Carey indicated his arm.  
“It doesn’t count,” Mark scoffed, “they left you for dead.”  
“Like they’ll do to you if they find you?” Carey pointed out.  
Mark looked up as Emma and Isaac caught up to them and quickly diverted his eyes.  
“I think it’s only a matter of when,” he admitted.  
“Well…” Carey checked over his shoulder that no kids were outside, “fuck that. We need to come up with a plan.”  
“Like what?” Mark scoffed, “if the labs can’t save me, who can?”  
“How did they find you in LA?” Emma still had her arms folded but her tone was calmer.  
“I don’t know for sure,” Mark admitted, “but I had the car transferred and they might have followed that. I felt like I was being followed for ages before Care was taken.”  
“So you could have warned him,” her brow went up and he instantly regretted his admission.  
“You think they might come to Tulsa?” Isaac curved the topic back.  
“If Mark’s here, they probably will,” Emma shrugged.  
“So if they’re not too great with mistaken identity, Tay could be in danger,” Isaac worked out aloud.  
“Because of course this is all about your brother,” Mark said under his breath.  
“He’s just trying to help,” Emma scorned, “we all are, in case you hadn’t noticed!”  
“Calm down,” Carey insisted, reaching up to put a hand on her arm, “we’re all stressed. Mark, where are you staying tonight?”  
“I don’t know,” he admitted.  
“Do you have any money?”  
“Morris gave me a bit,” Mark checked his pockets, pulling out the credit card, “maybe enough for a couple nights.”  
“Any nearby motels he can be dropped off at?” Carey looked to Isaac.  
Isaac paused for thought, taking a quick glance over his shoulder. Taylor was watching almost creepily from one of the back windows.  
“Sure,” he agreed, “there’s a few.”  
“Would you mind terribly?” Carey’s brow rose.  
Isaac shrugged and took a step back.  
“What about a cell. Do you have it?” Carey asked.  
“No, it’s still at the lab,” Mark shook his head, “I don’t think anyone’s been back there since the evac. All our stuff’s still in the lockers.”  
Carey shifted in the chair, pulling out his prepaid and holding it out.  
“Take mine,” he insisted, “then we can at least contact you. I vote we take this up in the morning.”  
“Sounds good to me,” Emma agreed.  
“We just need to cool off,” Carey went on, “it’s been a rough couple of days for everyone.”  
“Did something else happen?” Mark frowned, worried again now.  
Carey looked to Isaac to see if he wanted to explain.  
“Our Dad turned up,” he admitted somewhat awkwardly, “last night. But he disappeared again today.”  
“Your Dad?” Mark’s brow rose, “as in the dude the labs want?”  
“Yeah. Same one.”  
“Why?”  
“We don’t know,” Isaac shrugged, “we think he wanted to negotiate with Morris, but if that’s what he tried to do today… we’re guessing it didn’t end well.”  
“Like I said, let’s pick this up tomorrow,” Carey repeated.  
“I need to get home anyway, my wife’s been calling,” Isaac thumbed over his shoulder, “I can drop Mark off somewhere and keep going. Meet me around front?”  
“Sure,” Mark agreed.  
Isaac made his way back into the house to let Taylor and Natalie know what was happening and to say his goodbyes.  
“We’ll be fine,” Carey insisted, taking note of the look on Mark’s face, “let’s all get some sleep and start working out a game plan tomorrow.”  
“I don’t think we should go back to LA,” Mark shook his head, obvious worry in his eyes.  
“What part of ‘tomorrow’ didn’t you understand?” Carey teased.


	6. Chapter 6

“Feeling better today?” Natalie asked when she realised Taylor was awake beside her.  
“Not really,” he replied, eyes scanning the ceiling in thought.  
She sighed and put a gentle arm around him.  
“This whole thing is a mess,” his hand moved to cover hers, “and it’s such a mess I can’t even tell what to focus on first. I mean in the last two days we’ve lost Jesse, Dad’s turned up, the Millers have taken over the house and Dad’s taken off again.”  
“So concentrate on one thing at a time,” Natalie suggested, “start with Jesse.”  
Taylor took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  
“I didn’t get to spend much time with him,” Natalie admitted, “but I know he meant something to you.”  
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Taylor sighed, “I owed him my life. Literally. Maybe multiple times.”  
He paused.  
“Definitely multiple times,” he amended.  
“He brought Ezra and Penny back,” Natalie remembered, “I’ll always love him for that.”  
Taylor paused again. He was finding it hard to think straight.  
“I feel like I lost a brother, and I shouldn’t,” he frowned, “I barely knew him.”  
“There’s nothing to say how you should and shouldn’t feel,” Natalie insisted, “this is new to all of you.”  
“I guess.”  
They took a moment to contemplate before Taylor reached across for his cell phone.  
“Oh, shit.”  
“What is it?” Natalie sat up a little.  
“There’s like ten missed calls from Bex,” Taylor frowned, quickly calling her back.  
“Is it too much to hope that it’s good news?” Natalie sat up properly, moving the sheets.  
She could hear Bex pick up right away and sensed the urgency in her voice. So instead of getting up, she waited.  
“What?” was Taylor’s first reaction, “you’re joking, right?”  
Bex spoke again and Taylor quickly indicated Natalie’s phone. Natalie reached for it and handed it to him.  
“Where?” he asked, quickly opening Google.  
It didn’t long for him to find what he was looking for and he handed Natalie the phone. On the screen was an article including long range photos of her pushing Ellie’s pram.  
“Who’s calling?” Taylor asked into the phone, “and what have you said?”  
“What is this?” Natalie frowned, quickly skimming the article, “do they think Ellie’s ours?”  
But Taylor was focused on the phone. He quickly checked the time.  
“Meet me at the studio in an hour, we’ll sort this out before Ike and Zac get there,” he insisted before hanging up.  
“Is this really a problem?” Natalie looked up as Taylor got out of bed, “it’s not like they haven’t been wrong before.”  
“I’m not worried about that,” Taylor blew off, “I’m worried about who’s been calling asking about it.”  
“Who?” Natalie frowned, confused.  
“The LAPD,” he replied, quickly grabbing some clothes and heading for the shower.

Mark was awake early. Far too early to call Carey. After watching the television for a while and taking a much-needed shower, he checked how much money he had left before using Carey’s phone to check what fast food options were nearby. Finding nothing open but a Carl’s, he grabbed the jacket Isaac had loaned him from his car and headed out.  
He ate and headed straight back, bringing extra with him in case he was stuck at the motel for lunch as well. He kept an eye out as best he could to make sure he wasn’t being followed, but he was sure by now the ominous feeling in his gut was purely from being back in Tulsa. The circumstances under which he’d been here in the past hadn’t been great, and this time wasn’t a huge change.  
He entered a back door of the motel and found his room without looking up, making sure he got through the door quickly and locking it behind himself. He threw the room key aside and put the leftover food down with it before walking into the room and freezing on the spot.  
Janine was sitting on the bed, looking especially tired.  
“Hey,” she greeted after an awkward moment of silence.  
“What are you doing here?” he demanded without moving.  
Her eyes went to the window, and he noticed it was open. He couldn’t remember if he’d even bothered checking it.  
“We need to talk,” she looked like she wished she were anywhere else.  
“Start talking,” Mark insisted, “why did you follow me? I’ve been out less than twenty four hours, I wanted to see my brother.”  
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” she shook her head, “I understand.”  
“Then…?”  
He saw a shadow move in the corner of his eye and darted forward. John had been waiting in the bathroom for him.  
“Mark wait-“ Janine tried to stop him as he ran for the window.  
He stopped when he saw the black car waiting outside, Russo’s shorter henchman waiting in the driver’s seat.  
“What is this?” he turned back, “you’re not even gonna give me a _day_?! I didn’t ask for this! I was taken! _Again_.”  
“Calm down,” Janine insisted, not moving from the bed, “he just wants to talk to you.”  
“That’s not what it looks like,” Mark shook his head.  
“He promised me,” Janine assured, “they just want to talk business.”  
“Then why didn’t he come in?” Mark indicated the car.  
“We’re not doing this here,” John scorned in a low tone, “you’re coming with us, one way or another.”  
Mark pulled Carey’s cell phone from his jacket pocket and quickly dialled Emma’s number. Before the call could connect John was on him. Mark fought back as best he could but John was easily twice his size. The phone was hit out of his hand and Mark felt John grab him by the back of the neck and throw his head into the wall. Everything went black.

Taylor paused to get his head straight before typing the number for the LAPD officer into the office phone. Supposedly it was a direct line to someone who’d called Bex earlier that morning.  
Whoever it was, they took a while to answer.  
“This is Officer Mike.”  
“Hi,” he tucked some hair behind his ear, “this is Taylor Hanson, I’m returning a call from this morning.”  
“Just the man I want to speak to,” the officer sounded smug, “would you know a man by the name of Colin Reis?”  
Taylor froze up. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this.  
“Sir?”  
“The name doesn’t ring a bell,” he quickly covered, figuring he had no reason outside of the labs to know who Colin had been.  
“What about Carey or Mark Miller? Do they ring a bell?”  
“Am I supposed to know them?” Taylor diverted, “is this some kind of game of Guess Who? I don’t really have time for games.”  
“I suppose you don’t. You see I’m investigating a fraud case involving the Millers and this morning your name came up.”  
“How?” Taylor frowned.  
“It would be best if I showed you, but I take it a flying trip to LA would not be feasible. I’ll liaise with the officers at the Tulsa PD and have them contact you at their earliest convenience.”  
“Okay…?” Taylor’s brow rose, wondering if this was going to be an easy fix after all.  
“Thanks for your time, Mr Hanson.”  
The officer ended the call and Taylor replaced the phone. When he looked up he realised Zac was standing in the doorway, and he had no idea how long he’d been there.  
“I take it you saw the news this morning,” Zac’s eyes were going between he and Bex, “congrats on your new daughter, by the way.”  
“Did I ever tell you how I pretended to be Colin to stop Mark from getting arrested for stealing his car?” Taylor’s eyes narrowed.  
“No?” Zac scoffed.  
“Well… it sounds like the LAPD are catching on.”  
He looked over his shoulder to where Bex was waiting.  
“Has anyone else called?”  
“A few. Tulsa World, People…”  
“We’ll organise a statement to put out,” he relented, “there’s going to be more. Make People the priority because they had exclusivity.”  
“What are you going to tell them? That Nat was babysitting?” Zac asked as Taylor stood and headed his way.  
“She was,” Taylor shrugged, “and if the paparazzi had hung around long enough to see them at the park yesterday too, it would have been obvious. We don’t even know how old those photos are.”  
“How did Nat take it?” Zac followed him down the hall.  
“Not great. Have you heard from Ike?”  
“Not yet but he should be on his way.”

Mark opened his eyes to daylight. Not having expected to wake up at all, he was instantly on guard when he saw shadows moving. Once his eyes focused he was able to decipher Russo’s henchmen standing over him, but they were outdoors and under what looked like a bridge.  
As he sat up in the dirt he realised his wrists and ankles were taped together.  
“Can’t have you running off again, can we?” he heard John’s voice from above.  
“Fuck you,” Mark groaned, still trying to focus.  
“You might want to watch that mouth today,” the shorter man warned, looking out across the water from behind dark sunglasses.  
“Why start now?” Mark shrugged, looking over his shoulder as he heard footsteps.  
Russo had appeared from where the car sat nearby. Janine stood by the car to wait, but she still looked nervous.  
“Mr Miller,” Russo greeted formally, “you’re a hard man to get a hold of these days.”  
“There’s a reason for that,” Mark’s eyes narrowed, “and if you listened to her, you know exactly what happened back there.”  
“Still…” Russo paced a little before deciding against it and leaning on his walking stick instead, “at this point, the problems your absences have caused us have far outweighed any good you’ve done in their wake.”  
“Talk to the scientists,” Mark insisted, “I can’t control them any more than I could John Boy here.”  
John scoffed and Mark felt as though he’d made his point.  
“Sadly that time has passed,” Russo shrugged, making Mark frown.  
“What do you mean?” he asked.  
“The damage from your absence can no longer be undone, and we find ourselves having to… clean up the mess, so to speak.”  
Mark felt his teeth clench, but he didn’t dare say a word. He knew where this was going.  
“You will have a chance to save yourself, but the time has come for a sacrifice.”  
“Sacrifice?” he was confused, “what sacrifice?”  
He looked between the henchmen, expecting them to probably break his legs like they did Carey’s. He easily guessed they hadn’t known about his brother’s misplaced heart. It didn’t fill him with confidence.  
“Bring him,” Russo indicated, turning to walk back to the car.  
John took hold of Mark under the arms while the other flicked open a switchblade to cut the tape on his ankles. Once he could walk he was pulled over to the car where Russo was waiting beside the trunk.  
“You have a choice to make,” he offered Mark a smile, “you can save yourself, or you can offer your life.”  
“In return for what?” Mark was well and truly on edge already.  
Russo indicated to Janine. She opened the driver’s door and released the trunk. When Russo pulled it open Mark realised there was already somebody in there, and John pulled him forward so that he could see properly.  
“Oh, fuck,” he cussed when he saw Rachel’s unconscious form, her face already battered and bruised.  
“In return for her,” Russo continued as if nothing had happened, “the sacrifice you make will either be your life or hers. I’d take a moment to choose wisely if I were you.”


	7. Chapter 7

“So… you’re not quite the front page, but you might be getting there,” were Isaac’s first words as he walked in.  
“Good morning to you too,” Zac raised a brow from where he leant against the wall.  
“It’s being dealt with,” Taylor was on his laptop, working on the statement already.  
“What does Carey think of it?”  
“I left before he woke up,” Taylor admitted, “I’m sure Nat’s handling it.”  
“What are we doing about it?” Isaac looked between them, aware that it seemed to be in hand already.  
“Press statement followed by sucking up to People and Tulsa World so they don’t gloss over it and actually print the truth,” Zac answered for him.  
“Sounds fair,” Isaac reasoned as Taylor’s cell phone rang again.  
Recognising the number, he winced before answering.  
“Here we go,” he sighed, “this is Taylor Hanson.”  
“Hello Mr Hanson. This is Officer Pembroke from the Tulsa PD. Do you have a moment to talk?”  
“I do,” he confirmed.  
“You received a call earlier from Officer Mike at the LAPD?”  
“I did. A very confusing one,” he was determined to keep up the game.  
“I’m just calling to let you know that we’ve taken care of the misunderstanding and that you shouldn’t be hearing from them again.”  
Taylor paused, not sure if he heard that right.  
“Mr Hanson?”  
“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. Can I ask what the hell is going on?”  
“I can only say that it’s part of an ongoing investigation and your part was simply that of mistaken identity. We apologise for troubling you yet again.”  
“That’s okay,” Taylor was starting to catch on, “I’m just glad you got it sorted.”  
“Have a good day Sir.”  
Taylor ended the call with a frown. Both Isaac and Zac were waiting for an explanation.  
“So… I think the cops think it was Jesse,” he looked at Zac first.  
“That was the cops?” Isaac’s brow went up.  
“Why would they…” Zac frowned before a look of realisation crossed his face, “the thing with his wife? Really?”  
“That’s all I can think of,” Taylor shrugged.  
“Why were the cops calling?!” Isaac demanded, “what did they think you did?!”  
“Apparently, as I found out earlier…” Zac was a little haughty, “he pretended to be Colin because Mark was in trouble for… what? Stealing his car?”  
“Right,” Taylor nodded, “they wanted to investigate it as a fraud.”  
“How did they even find you? Why wouldn’t they look at Jesse first?” Zac frowned again.  
“I don’t know.”  
Isaac cleared his throat and held up his cell phone so they could see the screen. He had the morning’s article there ready to go.  
“Right,” Taylor realised with a groan, "I even had Nat help me with it. I bet that cop recognised her too."  
“Headache after headache this morning, isn’t it?” Zac smirked.  
“Well we kinda knew we weren’t coming to the studio to work today,” Isaac mused, putting the phone away again.  
“Still. Would have been nice to have had the option.”  
“I knew us watching Ellie was going to be a bad idea,” Taylor muttered to himself.  
“Did you tell Natalie?” Isaac asked, figuring he already knew the answer.  
“Not in those words,” Taylor admitted, “but she knew I didn’t like the idea.”  
“Because you thought it would bring trouble or just because of who her father is?”  
Taylor sent a glare in his direction before returning his focus to the laptop.  
“Thought so,” Isaac rolled his eyes and left the room.

“I know I said to take a moment,” Russo relented, “but time is running short. We’ll need a decision.”  
Mark’s heart was racing. He couldn’t fathom the idea of going back to Emma and Carey knowing he’d been responsible for Rachel’s death, but would the discovery of a body that looked exactly like Taylor Hanson in a Tulsa river be even worse?  
It certainly put all those Elvis sightings in a new light.  
“Marcus…?”  
“Take me,” he said with a gulp, “just don’t hurt her anymore.”  
He was too busy watching her to notice Janine’s scowl. Russo slowly lowered the trunk again and Mark diverted his eyes.  
“Very well,” Russo indicated with his hand, “prepare him.”  
Mark said nothing as John kept hold of his arm while the shorter man went back to the car. He pulled out some chains and what Mark could tell was a heavy weight. He tried to keep his breathing even as he worked out that he’d probably be going into the river alive.  
As the man stooped to attach the chain to his ankles Mark already started to feel sick.  
“You weren’t all bad,” Russo tried to reassure, “you were very helpful to begin with. Unfortunately over time you became more of a hindrance. Now we seem to have more cases than we ever started with.”  
“It wasn’t me,” Mark’s voice broke and he cursed himself in his head for not keeping it together.  
“I know, I know,” Russo didn’t sound convinced, “goodbye Marcus.”  
He turned to make his way back to where Janine was holding the back door of the car open for him, stopping once he was there to look across to the right. Mark realised the man was done with his ankles and John took hold of him under the arms again as the two worked to drag him down to the water.  
“Stop!”  
They froze at Russo’s order, all three looking back to see him standing with a hand up while still looking to the right.  
“I recognise you.”  
The shorter man left Mark with John and went back to see who he was talking to. Whoever it was, they were blocked by the bridge.  
“D’Angelo Russo.”  
Mark didn’t recognise the voice. He half hoped they’d just rush his fate and go back to their business. Though what business they’d have in Tulsa aside from his, he couldn’t think of.  
A tall man with grey hair and beard stepped into view. He made fleeting eye contact with Mark, not looking at all surprised at what he’d walked in on. He was quite obviously armed but he didn’t look like a cop.  
“What business do you have here?” Russo seemed intrigued more than anything else.  
“The man you just sentenced to death. I’m afraid I can’t let you have him.”  
Mark’s heart leapt into his throat. Of all his possible saviors… a random stranger wasn’t one he’d expected.  
“And why is that?”  
“Because he belongs to DIGER.”  
He had to be from the labs. Mark’s eyes now darted between he and Russo, wondering how this was going to play out. No option looked particularly great.  
“Ah,” Russo suddenly smiled, “now I remember you. It’s been a long time. Was he one of yours?”  
“Don’t act so surprised,” the newcomer insisted, “and we’ll have time for catching up later. Right now I’ll need you to turn him over to me.”  
Russo waved his hand.  
“Are you sure Boss?” the shorter man frowned, obviously wondering why he’d backed down so easily.  
“Was this not understood?” Russo repeated the action, looking back at him this time.  
The man nodded before stooping to unlock the chains again. Mark started breathing heavier as he wondered if this was really happening.  
Maybe he was already in the water and his mind was just playing tricks on him.  
”All a misunderstanding I assure you,” Russo focused on the stranger again, “we’ll need to stay in better touch.”  
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” he was now eyeing Mark.  
His gaze made him very uncomfortable, for more reasons than one. He almost looked like he’d just throw him in the water instead of Russo.  
“Boys?” Russo indicated for them to get back in the car.  
John gave Mark one last scornful look before following his comrade back. Mark watched as they got in the other side to where Russo was waiting. Before he could get in himself, Mark suddenly remembered.  
“Wait!” he insisted, calling their attention, “they’ve got a girl in the trunk! Help her too! Please?”  
The stranger stared him down, but it wasn’t as though he didn’t believe him. It looked like he was deciding whether he should help or not.  
“We have no need for her anymore,” Russo shrugged amicably, “Janine?”  
Looking nervous all over again, she opened the trunk. Russo gave John a quick order and he came to pull Rachel out, leaving her crumpled on the ground behind the car. They all quickly got back into the car and before Mark could make a move toward her the car was pulling away.  
“Rach?!” he twisted as he fell to his knees, trying to use his hands to see if she were okay.  
“She’s breathing,” the stranger pulled out a cell phone as he looked down on them, “we’ll have her checked over at a hospital shortly.”  
“Thank you,” Mark barely got out, quickly ignored as the man’s call was answered.  
“Yes Ivan, I have him. What now?”  
Mark gulped slightly when he realised it was Morris on the line. He wasn’t in a position to run.  
“Are you sure?” he turned to look over his shoulder.  
Mark could see a dark SUV parked up on the road. He had to assume that it was his.  
“Very well,” he ended the call with a sigh.  
“What are you going to do?” Mark asked somewhat nervously.  
“Just what I promised,” he assured, putting the phone away and pulling out a pocketknife instead.  
Mark held his ground as he approached, using the knife to cut Rachel’s wrists and ankles free. Once he was done he also cut the tape on Mark’s wrists.  
“Help me carry her,” he instructed.

The ride to the hospital was both quiet and nerve wracking. Mark kept his eye on Rachel in the backseat while the stranger concentrated on the road. They arrived at the nearest hospital in next to no time and Mark was the first out. The moment they were spotted carrying her inside, workers rushed to help. As soon as she was laid on a stretcher Mark was ordered back out to the car. He waited at the door until Rachel was taken out of sight, but relented and returned to the SUV as told. It felt like forever before the older man finally returned and got into the driver’s seat.  
Mark managed to hold it together until he realised he was about to drive off.  
“We can’t leave her here,” he insisted, “she isn’t from around here, she won’t know where she is!”  
“Your girlfriend will be fine,” the man assured in a calm tone, reminiscent of Morris, “they’ll call me when she wakes up.”  
“And then what?” Mark demanded, “what are we supposed to tell her?”  
The man sighed as they pulled out of the hospital and back onto the main road.  
“And where are you taking me?” Mark frowned, realising he didn’t know where he was.  
“Back to your motel,” he replied, “I assume you still have belongings there. Then I’ll take you back to Taylor’s if you wish.”  
Mark paused at that. He sure seemed to know a lot about them already despite being a stranger. While he looked somewhat familiar, Mark was sure he hadn’t seen him at any of the labs.  
“Who are you?” he asked straight out, “and why don’t we know you when you seem to know about us?”  
“You can call me Walker. I’m Taylor’s father.”  
Mark felt the blood drain from his face. He didn’t look at all like he’d expected him to, yet the resemblance was uncanny. He could now easily see Carey in him.  
“So this is all because of you,” he broke the awkward silence.  
Walker gave him a glance but returned his focus to the road.  
“Everything. All the bullshit, Morris, the kidnappings…” he went on, “the very fact that we’re alive.”  
He shook his head, turning his gaze to the road. He’d never expected to meet him let alone under such odd circumstances.  
“We’re only alive because you saved us,” he said under his breath.  
“You’re welcome,” Walker mused.  
“You’ll get no thanks from me,” Mark corrected, “my life ain’t worth shit compared to anyone else’s.”  
“I don’t believe that.”  
Mark looked across at him, but Walker kept his eyes to the road.  
“Where were you?” he demanded.  
“That’s enough for now,” Walker insisted, “let’s just get you out of sight. We can talk later.”  
“Is that a promise?” Mark’s brow rose.  
“You have my word.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Is there anything I can help with?” Emma asked, watching Natalie fret over her own laptop.  
“No, but thanks,” Natalie replied, “just a few angry emails to answer. Once Tay’s finished his statement I can use that to clear everything up.”  
“Who would be attacking you?” Emma frowned, now worried it might be something she’d have to watch out for.  
“I think they’re just upset,” Natalie shook her head, “there’s a few sites I was interviewed through when the kids were born where I got to talk about their names and their origins. I promised them exclusivity.”  
“Oh. Right,” Emma caught on.  
“At least they haven’t spotted Taylor in a wheelchair yet,” Carey mused, making his way into the room, “that’ll be one for the papers.”  
“Don’t even joke, please,” Natalie groaned internally as he took his spot at the table where they’d left a gap for the chair.  
“Sorry.”  
Natalie jumped when there was a knock at the door.  
“I can get it,” Emma made to get up.  
“No, I’d better,” Natalie sighed, “we don’t know who it might be. Tay probably won’t be back for hours.”  
Emma took her seat again as Natalie left the room.  
“Are you okay?” Carey leant over to ask her.  
“Yeah I just feel bad,” she admitted, “this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t asked her to watch Ellie. Maybe I should have asked Rachel instead.”  
“And if you had, you’d be driving yourself crazy right now considering she seems to be uncontactable,” Carey pointed out, “plus, she has to work. She couldn’t take this much time off.”  
“I know,” Emma pulled a face, “still, it doesn’t really help these guys.”

Natalie quickly rubbed her eyes and fixed her hair before opening the door. She stopped short, speechless, when she saw who it was.  
“Natalie,” Walker nodded in greeting, “may we come in?”  
“Sure,” she eyed Mark, not having met him yet.  
She stood aside as they came through. Mark kept his head down but offered her a grateful smile.  
“Tay’s not here,” she said as she closed the door behind them.  
“That’s okay,” Walker assured, continuing through to the dining area.  
Mark fidgeted for a moment wondering if he should follow, but he knew that Carey was here somewhere. Quickly pulling out her cell phone to message Taylor, Natalie followed them both.  
Carey froze when he looked up and saw Walker, Emma instantly noticing and turning to look over her shoulder.  
“Carey, Emma,” he greeted them.  
“What’s going on?” Carey looked worried even before laying eyes on Mark.  
His expression was telling.  
“I need to talk with you all about where to go from here,” Walker announced, leaning against the back of one of the chairs.  
“I should check on Ellie,” Emma said under her breath, decidedly feeling uncomfortable and using the excuse to leave the room.  
“Tay’s on his way home,” Natalie informed them as soon as she got her husband’s reply.  
“Thank you,” Walker gave her another nod.

“I gotta go,” Taylor’s heart was racing as he quickly packed his stuff.  
“What about the statement?” Bex asked.  
“I don’t know. Dad’s at home again.”  
“What?” Zac looked up in surprise.  
“He’s at the house, Nat doesn’t know what to do.”  
“I’ll come with,” Zac immediately offered.  
“And I’ll follow,” Isaac promised, grabbing his jacket.

When prompted, Mark had taken a seat beside Carey. The awkward silence that followed had been slightly terrifying.  
“What happened to you?” Carey broke it to ask, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”  
Mark checked behind him to make sure Emma was out of earshot.  
“What is it?” Carey demanded, only more worried.  
“The mob found me,” Mark admitted under his breath, well aware that Walker was listening in.  
“Excuse me?” Carey’s brow rose.  
“I went out to get food this morning and they were there when I got back.”  
“Are you okay?!” Carey frowned, “whose jacket is that?”  
“It’s Isaac’s,” Mark quickly blew off, “he offered it up last night. And yeah.”  
He hesitated, twiddling his thumbs.  
“But Rachel’s not.”  
Carey took a moment to comprehend what he’d said. When he realised he’d heard right, his eyes darted to Walker.  
“What happened?” he demanded, “Emma’s been trying to reach her for days.”  
“She’s in the hospital.”  
“She’ll be fine,” Walker assured, “I’ll get a call when she wakes up.”  
“Wakes up?” Carey immediately thought the worst, “what did they do?!”  
“I don’t know,” Mark admitted, “she was out of it by the time I saw her. They had her in the trunk and they wanted me to choose.”  
“Choose what?”  
Mark started to bite his nails, obviously shaken.  
“Choose _what_?!”  
“Me or her, okay?!” Mark snapped, “I had to choose between me and her, and I chose her.”  
Carey’s heart skipped a beat, starting to realise the magnitude of what had happened.  
“And then he showed up,” Mark indicated Walker, “and stopped them.”  
“How?” Carey looked to him too, “how did you find him?”  
“The tracker,” Walker offered, “it doesn’t just tell us your location, it also tells us if you’re under stress. I happened to be in the neighborhood when Ivan called.”  
“’Us’?” Carey picked up right away, “you’re working with them now?”  
“It’s a transition period,” Walker assured, “we’re not quite there yet.”  
Natalie was still standing in the background and she quickly texted Taylor that piece of information. She wasn’t surprised when she didn’t get a response, assuming he was well on the way home.  
“What does this mean for us?” Mark looked up, still fidgeting, “with you around?”  
“Are you staying here or going to the lab?” Carey added on.  
“DIGER is still inaccessible until surveyors can give the all clear on its structural integrity,” Walker calmly explained, “in the meantime they’ll be moving their operations across to Nevada.”  
“Nevada?” Mark’s brow rose.  
“What about Nevada?” Carey was lost, but it wasn’t in time to get an answer.  
They all heard the front door slam open. Natalie nearly jumped out of her skin and she quickly retreated to the kitchen. Walker calmly waited while the Millers kept their eyes on the doorway.  
Taylor was the first to appear.  
“What are you doing here?” he demanded when he laid eyes on his father, “what are you bringing here now?!”  
This was before he even saw Mark at the table. Mark had already known Taylor didn’t want him there and he kept his eyes down.  
“Calm down,” Walker remained calm himself.  
“You don’t get to tell me to calm down!”  
“Tay, stop,” Zac refrained from actually grabbing him but it came close.  
“We need to talk,” Walker looked between them as they heard the front door close, Isaac soon appearing also.  
“We’ve wanted to talk since this whole thing started,” Taylor said between his teeth, “why now?!”  
“Because he’s working for them now,” Carey jumped in.  
Taylor locked eyes with him, and despite how angry he obviously was Carey easily held his ground.  
“Is he serious?” Taylor focused on Walker again.  
“That was your negotiation?” Zac was focusing on his father now too, “you wanted to work _with_ them? _Again_?”  
“Because that worked so well last time,” Isaac adjusted his cuff awkwardly.  
“Things have changed,” Walker eyed him, “I can’t say they’re for the better, but at least now I can keep an eye on them from inside.”  
“You’re going to try and tell us you did this to infiltrate?” Zac’s brow rose.  
“No,” Walker admitted as Taylor rolled his eyes, “but it’s become a fortunate by-product.”  
“I don’t get it,” Isaac shook his head, “why… I mean how…?”  
“Not forgetting the basic ‘how could you?’” Taylor added, “not that he should start caring about us now.”  
Walker gave him a scornful look and Taylor only felt his blood pressure rise in rejoinder. The Millers shared an awkward glance.  
“Maybe we should all sit down before we start throwing punches,” Zac suggested, indicating the table.  
“No,” Taylor was too riled up to sit.  
In contrast, Walker headed for it right away. Isaac paused, trying to decide, but Zac followed and took a seat with his father. Carey quickly gave Mark a hand signal that told him not to move, knowing he would want to leave right away.  
“Is that my jacket?” Isaac broke a little of the tension.  
“Yeah,” Mark admitted, “sorry.”  
“It wasn’t his fault,” Carey insisted, referring to the state it was now in, “the mob’s here.”  
“What?”  
“One problem at a time,” Zac insisted.  
He waited for the pause that followed to be sure no one was going to yell a retort.  
“Now. Dad,” he focused on him as Taylor folded his arms, “what exactly did you want to talk about?”  
Walker cleared his throat as Isaac started to pace behind the twins.  
“I came to an agreement with Ivan yesterday,” he focused on Zac but kept his voice raised so all would hear, “that your mother and I would give him what he wants in exchange for her freedom and my commitment.”  
“That doesn’t sound like Morris,” Isaac said straight away.  
Taylor visibly held back from saying anything.  
“Ike’s right,” Zac insisted, “every time we’ve tried to trust him, he’s gone back on what he’s said.”  
“Except the last time they let Tay go,” Isaac pointed out.  
“And we don’t know if that was for a certain reason,” Zac added, “but any other time all he’s done is use Tay, or use Ike, to get to other people. What makes you think he won’t do the same to you?”  
“Because I know how he works,” Walker replied, “I have a long history with Ivan.”  
“A history that excludes the last thirty years,” Zac frowned, “he will have changed in that time Dad.”  
“Zac’s right,” Isaac agreed, “you knew him. Doesn’t mean you know him.”  
“I’m not only talking about Ivan,” Walker admitted, looking up at his eldest, “I’m talking about the entire establishment, which we were initially a part of. There’s rules, there’s guidelines… Ivan is only playing inside of those.”  
“So… kidnapping, threatening to kill us, international child trafficking… that all falls under their guidelines,” Taylor was fuming.  
“I’m afraid so,” Walker didn’t even flinch.  
“Okay wow,” Isaac’s brow rose.  
“What makes them think… what makes you think,” Zac corrected himself, “that you’re above the law? What rights do they have to treat people like this at all?”  
“Because they are above the law. They are an entirely separated section of government, not governed by state law.”  
“Or international law,” Taylor muttered.  
“They have limitations, none of which to my knowledge have been breached,” Walker amended making Taylor scowl with incredulousness.  
“So they can just hunt people down however they feel like it?” Zac tried to understand.  
“The problem from this outside perspective would be their definition of ‘people’,” Walker replied.  
“For fuck’s sake,” Taylor rolled his eyes again.  
“So wait, we’re not considered people to them?” Mark’s brow rose, jumping in for the first time.  
Walker shook his head.  
“What about me?” Isaac frowned, hands on his hips, “I wasn’t made in a lab but they still held me against my will.”  
“It’s a loophole and one I’m looking into,” Walker assured.  
“A lot of good that’ll do I’m sure, considering it happened over a year ago.”  
“The object is to stop it from happening again.”  
“Next he’ll say he’s doing this for us, just wait,” Taylor smirked.  
Walker’s eyes went to him and his face sobered.  
“I need to go to Nevada for a meeting with Ivan and his cohorts,” Walker focused on Zac again, “but the position I’ve been offered is liaison between the lab and its discharged operatives.”  
“Liaison?” Taylor frowned.  
“Discharged operatives? You mean the clones out in the wild?” Mark checked.  
At Walker’s nod he turned to Carey.  
“He wants to play Daddy for real now,” he said under his breath.  
“Only it sounds more like Big Brother,” Carey agreed.  
“You’re going to be our line to Morris?” Zac confirmed, “because we’ve been calling him direct.”  
“They agree that a familiar face would make things more amiable for everyone,” Walker reasoned, “because Morris hasn’t had much luck himself.”  
“I wonder why,” Isaac murmured.  
“Maybe because he likes to send guys in ski masks after us instead of coming himself,” Taylor scowled.


	9. Chapter 9

“This is a lot to take in,” Zac was working to keep the peace, having pulled his brothers aside once Walker had said his piece, “so let’s all just take a moment.”  
“This could be a good thing,” Isaac kept his voice down, “maybe with Dad keeping the line open they’ll lay off us a little. Give us more warning whenever they want something. He can vouch for us if we’re trying to organise events and such that we can’t just take off from.”  
“It is the reason everything’s been on hold,” Zac agreed, “so I’m all in for a solution to that problem.”  
“Tay?” Isaac was almost nervous to ask, “what do you think?”  
He still had his arms folded and he’d kept his eyes down.  
“I think…” he forcibly kept his tone even, “that we don’t really have a choice in the matter anyway.”  
“He’s not wrong,” Isaac pointed out.  
“That’s probably true,” Zac conceded, “but can we move on from this? I mean I don’t expect things to go back to what they were, and they never will.”  
Taylor looked back to where their father was talking to the twins.  
“But if we can work out a way for them to at least stay in the kids’ lives, then maybe we should fight for that.”  
“If you trust them not to just take off with the kids someday,” Taylor muttered.  
“Tay,” Zac scowled.  
“I’ve got trust issues, okay?! I get it!” he insisted, “but from where I’m standing they are completely founded! We know they want Ezra and Penny. It’s only a matter of time.”  
“Maybe when they actually come for them it’ll be handy to have Dad as an escort,” Isaac suggested, “he can watch out for them and make sure-“  
“Make sure of what?” Taylor pulled a face, “that they don’t hurt them? If that’s where you were going then we are entirely on the wrong page.”  
Isaac threw his hands up.  
“Wait,” Zac insisted before he could walk off, “this isn’t something that’s going to happen in the next five minutes, we’re aware of that. But if there’s even a tiny possibility that we can move forward with this, I think we need to take it. Do you think you could possibly calm down enough to think this through in the next… I don’t know, week?”  
Taylor rolled his eyes again.  
“We don’t know how long he’s going to be in Nevada,” Zac reasoned.  
“Or if he’ll actually come back,” Isaac added.  
“Maybe we could take that time to cool off and work out some boundaries as far as Mom and Dad are concerned.”  
“Okay.”  
“Okay?” Zac wasn’t sure he’d heard right.  
“Yes, okay,” Taylor repeated, “I can wait.”  
Knowing he shouldn’t press the issue, Zac immediately backed off.

“When you first turned up here, Taylor said you knew my name,” Carey’s eyes narrowed, Walker in his sights, “how?”  
“I knew your mother, of course,” Walker looked between them, “she was one of the last we ever had contact with. We helped her transfer to Los Angeles after you were born.”  
“You saw us as babies?” Mark was surprised.  
“We thought you scattered before we were ever born. Didn’t they want us aborted?” Carey frowned.  
“They did,” Walker agreed, “and we sent the mothers to all corners of the States. But your mother needed more help from us, and she happened to be the last we heard from.”  
“Why?” Carey asked, “why would she come back, knowing it was dangerous? How did she even know how to find you?”  
“We provided them with a secure form of communication. We couldn’t use the internet back then,” Walker mused, “Linda Miller was the only one who used it. We weren’t all that surprised considering she was the only other carrier holding twins. When we found her in Arizona she was stressed, anxious… there were some complications.”  
“What complications?” Carey demanded.  
“What other twins?” Mark jumped on, “there was already twelve embryos, we were the only twins.”  
“One of the stillborns was theirs,” Carey quickly reminded him, momentarily surprised that he’d remembered himself.  
“Oh right.”  
Walker looked between them as they talked, amusement in his eyes.  
“What complications?” Carey repeated.  
“They don’t matter,” Walker assured, “we’re here now, that’s all that matters.”  
“To Morris too, I bet,” Mark drawled, “so you’re just supposed to keep an eye on us for him now? It’s probably easier considering half of us bit it in one night.”  
“I did hear about Jesse, and I’m sorry for your loss,” Walker looked between them.  
“And Colin,” Carey added.  
“And Damien,” Mark added, Carey looking unsure at that one.  
“Your losses,” Walker amended, “I’d go so far as to include your mother. I heard about her accident.”  
“How?” Mark frowned, Carey rubbing his face.  
“We kept an eye on obituaries. Just in case Morris and his kin came calling,” Walker admitted, “did they investigate the accident?”  
“No,” Carey kept his eyes down, “they told us she lost control on the highway. Ran head-on into a semi. Died instantly.”  
“Are you saying it might not have been an accident?” Mark tried to understand, “that the car was tampered with or…?”  
“It had crossed our minds,” Walker shrugged, “but I wouldn’t look too far into it if I were you. Accidents happen, and you weren’t contacted by the lab until recently yes?”  
“Right,” Mark confirmed.  
“Then I wouldn’t worry.”  
“Kinda hard not to now,” Carey admitted, absently scratching at where his hand was starting to heal.  
Walker watched him for a moment. Mark looked back to where the Hanson brothers were still arguing before they heard Walker sigh.  
“This is going to sound odd…” he began carefully, catching both Millers’ attentions again, “but you are a mirror twin, right?”  
“Yeah,” Carey frowned, “the labs know that.”  
“That’s a shame,” Walker murmured.  
“What do you mean?” Carey was confused, “they would have known to begin with.”  
“They didn’t.”  
“What?” Mark frowned along with him, “how?”  
“It was a fluke,” Walker shrugged, “we couldn’t manufacture mirror twins, only embryos that shared a womb. A mirror twin is a natural occurrence.”  
He paused.  
“Though with the improvements in technology they might be able to now.”  
“I was a fluke?” Carey had to double check, “I wasn’t planned?”  
“No, something doesn’t add up,” Mark insisted, “if he was a natural mirror twin we’d be the same, but we’re not.”  
“How are you different?” Walker asked with interest.  
“I can have kids, he can’t,” Carey said a little too fast.  
“And my hair is different to his, that’s why I usually keep it shorter,” Mark admitted, “it’d go curly otherwise.”  
“So we can’t be natural mirror twins…” Carey trailed off, trying to decipher the look on Walker’s face.  
“You’re saying we’re not twins?” Mark felt his heart starting to race, “that we aren’t actually brothers?!”  
“We knew it was an option,” Carey quickly put a hand on his arm.  
“You are as much brothers as Taylor and Isaac are,” Walker insisted, “you’ve spent your lives together, and you were born of the same program. But you didn’t share a birth mother, that’s true.”  
“You lied.”  
They looked up to see the Hansons had come back, led by Taylor who’d stopped at the end of the table.  
“ _Again _. The both of you?”__  
“No,” Walker countered.  
“You told me my twin was stillborn,” Taylor said between his teeth, “tell me the truth.”  
Carey’s eyes went to Walker, afraid to hear his answer. Mark’s face was already red.  
“A twin was stillborn,” Walker amended, “but it was Mark’s.”  
Mark immediately stood from the table.  
“Mark-“ Carey reached out to stop him, but instantly knew it was futile.  
He headed for the front door. The silence that followed allowed them to hear the door open and shut. Carey was only frustrated that he couldn’t do the same thing.  
“How did you know?” Taylor demanded, his voice lower now, “what happened back then?”  
“As I was just telling the Millers,” Walker indicated Carey, “their mother contacted us when she was having complications during the pregnancy. By the time we found her she’d lost one of her babies.”  
Carey put his head in his hands.  
“She didn’t take it well, to the point of clinical depression. It’s a miracle Mark survived, really.”  
“So how did Carey end up with them?” Isaac asked.  
“I didn’t want him to go,” Walker admitted, looking somewhat humble for the first time, “you might have to ask your mother that one.”  
“Where is she?” Taylor demanded, “and don’t give me the ‘somewhere safe’ bullshit.”  
“She’s nearby. I plan to take her with me to Nevada tomorrow.”  
“Can we see her?” Isaac looked hopeful.  
“I’ll see what I can do.”  
“Um, if you don’t mind I might…” Carey tried to push himself backward.  
Isaac jumped to help. After working out where he wanted to go he pushed the chair back into the living room and after making sure he was okay went to fetch Emma for him.  
“Where are you staying tonight?” Zac asked, realising their meeting was coming to an end.  
“The day is young,” Walker insisted, standing from the table himself, “and I have more business to tend to. I will call you later.”  
“What about Mark?” Taylor frowned, “we can’t just have him wandering around Tulsa.”  
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Walker assured before walking himself to the door.  
Taylor rubbed his face as he heard his father leave, before jumping when he felt Zac’s hand on his shoulder.  
“Are you okay?” he checked.  
“No,” Taylor admitted, “but I’ve had worse days, believe it or not.”  
“I do,” Zac gave his shoulder a pat, “sadly I do.”

Alex bit his lip as he looked up at the building. He hadn’t seen the outside of it in daylight since he’d first come back from Russia. It looked very different now.  
“Ready?” he heard Morris asking to the right.  
“Is it safe?” Alex asked worriedly.  
“The contractors tell us the damage seems to be exclusively to the West wing, and between the second and fourth floors,” Morris assured, “but they’ll be walking us through just in case.”  
He handed Alex a hardhat.  
“What do you want me to do?” Alex was unsure of why he was even here.  
“We’re looking for anything imperative to the project,” Morris began to lead the way inside, “anything you’ve seen Damien use – laptops, computers, the like – we’ll need to take with us to Nevada.”  
Alex internally winced when he remembered the state he’d left Damien’s room in. But he remembered where the laptop was.  
“I’ll go and fetch my research, and you’ll go and aim for Damien’s,” Morris went on, “bring everything back to the lobby and we’ll load up the vans. The sooner we get on the road, the better.”  
“We’re driving to Nevada?” Alex frowned.  
“Of course not,” Morris mused, giving him a pat on the back, “no… we’ll send the vans on their way and then we’ll catch a first class flight.”  
He separated from Alex before Alex could ask how Keandre would be getting there. He’d assumed in one of the vans but he just wanted to make sure.  
Despite not knowing Keandre all that well, he wanted to make sure he was okay.  
When he realised one of the contractors was waiting, he hurriedly led the man inside and back toward Damien’s room. It was still smoky inside the building but it was evident the danger had passed.  
Once he found the room he quickly gathered Damien’s laptop and Joey’s backpack. Seeing nothing else that would be considered a personal item – or indeed anything helpful to Morris – he quickly moved on. He made his way through what appeared to be the rooms of other workers as well as some offices, and whatever he or the contractor couldn’t carry they made a mental note to come back for. 


	10. Chapter 10

Keandre barely had his eyes open before the handlers barged into the office. They weren’t taking any chances this time, and it was evident when he was suddenly hit in the side with a Taser.  
He instantly convulsed, falling from the desk he’d been napping on. By the time he was able to focus enough to try and move they already had his hands tied behind his back and were preparing the hood. He groaned as it went on, but mostly because he’d hit his head on the way down.  
He was pulled to his feet and he could feel himself being taken from the room for the first time in days. From his calculations he was taken back in the direction he’d originally been brought in, and he felt a cool breeze once he hit the outside. It was short lived as he was loaded into the back of a van and he felt shackles being placed around his ankles. Not entirely sure of what was happening but venturing a decent guess, he tried to make himself comfortable enough to get some more sleep on the ride.

“I’ll get you something to snack on,” Emma gave Carey’s knee a pat, “you need something in your stomach.”  
“Okay,” he agreed, before watching as she left the living room.  
It was now dark outside. Isaac and Zac had both gone home, and they hadn’t heard anything from Mark. Knowing that Russo was in town and not knowing exactly what had happened earlier in the day, it was only making Carey more nervous as the day wore on.  
He sensed someone standing behind him before he saw the shadow to his left.  
“I get it,” he said after clearing his throat.  
“Get what?” Taylor asked, all earlier anger gone.  
He gingerly made his way into the room so that Carey wouldn’t have to turn to see him.  
“What it must have been like, that day at Tulsa College,” Carey looked up at him, “when you first saw me.”  
Taylor paused, waiting for him to elaborate. He could see Carey fidgeting with the plasters on his fingers.  
“To have your whole world turned upside down,” he smirked, “to realise your entire life has been a lie.”  
“You would have had that happen too,” Taylor shrugged, “just earlier than I did.”  
“Not really,” Carey’s eyes fell, “I mean it was kinda weird at first, seeing you everywhere on TV and on magazines and such… but it was just something we knew we’d figure out eventually. So when we found Jesse and we found Colin it was more of a relief that we didn’t have a random triplet out there.”  
He paused.  
“No offence,” he quickly added.  
“None taken,” Taylor assured, “Isaac was yelled at a while ago by Alex’s Mom for ruining his life.”  
“Tough break.”  
“I don’t know,” Taylor shifted his weight, “I feel like he may have gotten off lightly. I don’t know if you remember…”  
“I remember,” Carey interrupted, knowing he was talking about the incident with Mark.  
“Good.”  
They both looked up as Emma returned to the room. She’d brought him a smaller plate of some leftovers from their dinner.  
“I’ll leave you to it,” Taylor offered, making to leave the room.  
“Taylor?” Carey looked up, waiting for him to pause, “thank you.”  
“For what?” he turned back with a frown.  
“For everything,” Carey shrugged as Emma knelt beside his chair again, “you didn’t have to help us but ah… it’s appreciated.”  
“It is,” Emma agreed with a forced smile.  
Taylor hesitated, unsure of how to answer. He wanted to say something about family but felt as though it would be in poor taste considering the day they’d had.  
“You’re welcome,” he offered instead before heading back to his own family in the dining area.  
“Eat something,” Emma insisted once he was gone.  
“You know we’re not even that much alike, really,” Carey said under his breath.  
“I don’t know. Natalie did say you seemed the most like him,” Emma pointed out.  
“I’m sure I’m taller,” he went on, “and well… he isn’t missing a finger I guess.”  
“It could be arranged.”  
Carey’s eyes shot across to her and she gave him a satisfied smirk.  
“Just making sure you’re listening.”

Alex was clutching Joey’s backpack as he followed Morris through the center in Nevada. It surprised him how similar it looked to the one in Dallas, considering what he remembered of the cells. They were certainly a lot more dated.  
“Here we are,” Morris used a key card to open a door before handing the card to Alex, “your temporary quarters.”  
Alex stepped through cautiously. The room was similar to Damien’s, but closer in size to the motel room he and his mother had stayed in. There was a single bed, a small ensuite and a large writing desk.  
“I trust you’ll be comfortable here,” Morris stood in the doorway as he looked around, “we’ll be settling in for the first week or so, so we won’t be needing your help just yet. If there’s anything we can give you to make you feel a little more at home be sure to let me know.”  
Alex paused at that before turning back.  
“Anything?” he tested.  
“Within reason,” Morris was intrigued by his reaction, “what were you thinking?”  
“Games?” Alex looked hopeful.  
“I’m sure we could arrange something,” Morris considered, “which games?”  
“Gears of War one through four and Judgement? They all work on the Xbox One if you get the right release,” he fired off.  
“You might need to write those down,” Morris had an amused glint in his eye, “but I don’t see it being a problem. Make yourself at home and I’ll organise a meeting with the eye surgeon for you for tomorrow.”  
Alex watched after him as he left the door open before setting Joey’s backpack down on the desk.  
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. He just wished he wasn’t there alone.

Isaac sighed to himself as he twisted Keandre’s ring around his pointer finger. He’d spent a lot of time trying to work out if the large red stone was a real ruby or not, but he hadn’t had the time to properly research it. He was daydreaming when his vibrating cell phone made him jump.  
He dug inside the pocket of his black coat for it, glad to see the caller ID.  
“Yeah? Yes, I’m here. Where are you?”  
He frowned as he looked out across the river.  
“Great. I’ll see you soon.”  
He ended the call and shifted himself so he wasn’t sitting at such an odd angle. He’d been waiting for what felt like half the morning. When the other car finally pulled up he couldn’t help but sigh with relief.  
He got out of his SUV before the car came to a halt and walked around to open the driver’s door for them.  
“Isaac,” she smiled.  
“Mom,” he pulled her into a hug, “it’s good to see you. Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine,” she insisted, still smiling, “are you?”  
“It’s been a rough week,” he admitted as he pulled back.  
“So I hear,” she rubbed his arm, “I hope your father didn’t upset anyone too much.”  
“Well… Tay,” Isaac winced.  
“So I hear,” her face fell.  
“Don’t worry, he’ll come around,” Isaac assured, putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her to the path, “he just has a lot to deal with right now.”  
“I know. But so do you,” she reasoned, “so do we all.”  
“Speaking of…” Isaac wasn’t sure if he should ask, but he also didn’t know if he’d get another chance, “I have to ask about Carey.”  
“What about him?” her hands slid into her pockets.  
“Well Dad said we’d have to ask you about why you gave him up. He said he never wanted to.”  
“So you know about that,” she mused.  
“Kinda.”  
She took a deep breath, looking out across the river as they continued down the walkway.  
“It was the hardest day of my life,” she admitted, “even with everything following it. But it had to be done.”  
“Why?” Isaac frowned, confused.  
“Because they knew we were having twins and we would have been easier to find.”  
Isaac’s brow rose as he caught on.  
“She was barely aware of what was going on when she miscarried,” Diana went on, “I’d be surprised if she ever realised that Carey wasn’t her own.”  
“But he would have been slightly older?” Isaac pointed out.  
“With the trauma she went through it wouldn’t have mattered.”  
She sighed, pulling some gloves from her pockets and slipping them on.  
“How long do you have?” Isaac hated to ask.  
“Not long,” she began to look worried, “your father and I will leave tonight. Don’t worry, we’ll stop along the way.”  
“That’s not the part I’m worried about,” Isaac admitted.  
“I’ll be fine,” she assured, smiling for him again, “we know these people. It’ll be like catching up with old friends.”  
“They weren’t very friendly from my point of view.”  
“And we’ll have to talk to them about that.”  
“They also weren’t very talkative. Very grabby. Very stabby. Liked guns.”  
“We’ll talk to them,” she insisted, pausing in her stride and making him stop too, “is there anything else I should know?”  
“What do you mean?” he frowned, “hasn’t Dad told you everything?”  
She waited a moment to see if he’d catch on, and when he didn’t she tapped her own neck. Isaac looked sheepish as he scratched at his own.  
“Yes I have a tracer,” he admitted as they continued to walk, “but I don’t know when I got it.”  
“I would assume at some point when you were unconscious in their care,” Diana offered for him.  
“It could have been anytime,” Isaac shook his head, “I didn’t even know it was there until recently. I found it by accident.”  
“Don’t worry too much about it,” she looked out across the river, “from what I hear the tracer program is what your father is aiming to overhaul the moment he sets foot in headquarters again.”  
“Why?” Isaac couldn’t think.  
“For you boys, of course. The less eyes on you the better in our view.”  
She reached over to take his hand and squeezed it gently.  
“We’re going to take care of things from that end,” she promised, “we just need you to take care of things here.”  
“I can’t control Tay. You of all people know that,” Isaac insisted.  
“I don’t mean control him,” she quickly corrected, “I just mean look out for him. Help keep him out of trouble. He’s your brother, it should come natural.”  
Isaac broke into a chuckle at that.  
“What?” she looked up, amused herself.  
“Keeping Taylor out of trouble, that’s what,” he was smiling.  
“I know,” she patted his arm, “boy do I know. But we try, Isaac. We try.”  
“That we do.”

“Are you comfortable?” Emma checked, making sure the wheelchair was within reach in case he had to get up in the night.  
“I’m fine,” Carey assured, “you don’t have to nanny me. I was doing okay at the lab.”  
“Sure you were,” she smirked.  
“I was!” he insisted, “you have no idea how many times I had to get up and pee in the middle of the night when you weren’t there!”  
“Well I guess if you’re fine I can just go spend the day at the hospital with Rachel tomorrow.”  
Carey paused at that before narrowing his eyes.  
“I’m sure she’d appreciate a visit from Ellie. I mean she might have seen her on those magazine covers already and all…”  
“You can’t leave me alone with the Naylors,” Carey began to sound worried.  
“You’ll be fine,” she insisted, adjusting the sheets on her bed, “after all. You’ve got it all under control.”  
“You can’t leave me here, Taylor’s going to put Ratsak in my chia.”  
Emma pulled the covers aside and sat on the bed, turning to stare him down.  
“I’m waiting,” her brow rose.  
“You’re manipulating me,” he realised.  
“But you make it so easy,” a sly smile crossed her face.  
“You’re not supposed to use those powers for evil!”  
“All I want is an apology. Maybe a little begging.”  
She bit her lip.  
“Maybe you going down on me.”  
Carey’s eyes shot to the door to make sure it was still closed.  
“Not here,” he insisted, “there’s kids everywhere.”  
Emma rolled her eyes and moved the sheets again.  
“And I’m sorry!” he insisted, “I really appreciate everything you’ve done, and I can’t wait to get home with you and Ellie. I want those sleepless nights, I want those dirty nappies, and I want you. I swear.”  
“There might be double the dirty nappies,” Emma said under her breath.  
“What?”  
She looked across to his bed. Even in the dim lighting she could see she had his full attention.  
“So you’re listening now?” she mused.  
“I’m listening,” he insisted, “say it again.”  
“I said… there might be double the dirty nappies. Because I’m pregnant.”  
Carey hesitated, his mind racing.  
“From the time at the lab?” he asked as she got up again and came back to his bed, “or before that?”  
“Take your pick,” she smirked, moving to sit on top of him.  
“So we’re really having another kid? Already?” his eyes had lit up.  
“Already,” she grinned, “kiss me you motherfucker.”  
He leant up to kiss her, grabbing her hair with one hand and pushing himself up with the other. With one hand Emma gave his wheelchair a shove so that it would block the door if anyone tried to open it from the outside.

Mark looked the jacket over. It was torn beyond repair around where his wrists had been taped, so he figured Isaac wouldn’t want it back. After checking everywhere else to make sure it was still wearable he decided he’d keep it. The hoodie he’d found was only thin and the weather was only getting colder. If he didn’t find money soon for supplies he was going to freeze.  
When he saw the bus pulling in he quickly shoved the jacket in the backpack he’d stolen and threw it over his shoulder. His newest tattoo – _for the fallen_ – was oddly itching and it quelled it for a moment. He quickly boarded the bus, showed his ticket, and found a seat near the back.  
Maybe he’d have better luck down in Santa Fe.

The elevator chimed and he walked out into the apartment. It looked clean, but it didn’t look lived in. At a quick guess he estimated that no one had set foot in there in months.  
But the cleaners were still coming once a week.  
He walked over to the nearest window to look out at the Chicago skyline as he pulled his cell phone from his back jeans pocket. He hit speed dial and put the phone to his ear as he waited for them to pick up.  
“Are you there?”  
“I am,” he replied, “it’s nice digs but, what am I supposed to do here? Bring girls home?”  
“If you want to, that’s up to you. But we have other plans for you.”  
“I guessed. So what am I doing here?”  
“You’ll partake of Mr Reis’ life. Find his friends, find his acquaintances… convince them he hasn’t fallen from the face of the Earth. Tell them he went on sabbatical or some such.”  
“How about… _finding himself_ ,” he mused, “a spiritual retreat or some crap.”  
“Perfect. We’ve emailed you the information we’ve gathered from the past decade. The points we feel you might find useful at least. Have some fun with it.”  
“Sure thing Dr Morris.”  
“We’ll be in touch Jackson.”  
“I’m sure you will,” he ended the call.  
He took a quick look around before going to dump his suitcase in the master suite. He figured he might as well unpack here and now.


End file.
